Victorian Date Stamp query

[Pete R]

Hi all,

New member to this forum as have a question which have been struggling to find the answer to! We bought a Victorian property last year, and the 'Date Stamp' is blank. Firstly, im not actually sure if 'Date Stamp' is the correct terminology - is 'Name Plate' correct instead? Trying to understand what the item is actually called as then would be able to understand the steps needed to get a name for the property. Are you able to name your property anything you like you if it didnt have a name, or does it need to be registered with the council etc? The survey and existing information didn't uncover anything.
Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

[Cubist]

Hi Pete and Welcome,

Date Stones are fairly common and have been put to a variety of uses including amongst many others; a builders mark, build date, occupation date and even the marriage date of the first owners. As to changing the name of a house. That will require approval of the local authority and you should apply to your local town hall. They will provide the guidance and ultimately permit or disallow the change. However, if the house has a Number that cannot be changed.

Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Cubist

 

[noj]

I think that if a house has a number then you can additionally call it whatever you want (so long as it's not offensive). If it's only named and you want to change that then the process gets complex...

 

[Feltwell]

I think that if a house has a number then you can additionally call it whatever you want (so long as it's not offensive). If it's only named and you want to change that then the process gets complex...

That's my understanding to, if the house has a number then you call it what you want so long as you still use the number in your address.

If you don't have a number then you have to apply to your council for a change in postal address in order to change the name.

My house was "The Birches" for many years until it became No.61 - effectively the name is now redundant, though oddly all the "suggest the address" fields you get on web sites come up with 2 versions of the address, with and without the name.

 

[noj]

According to old census info our house used to be number 8, now it's 226. That's 'progress'!

It's also known as 'The Cottage' both informally and on some communication from officialdom.

 

[Pete R]

Hi Pete and Welcome,

Date Stones are fairly common and have been put to a variety of uses including amongst many others; a builders mark, build date, occupation date and even the marriage date of the first owners. As to changing the name of a house. That will require approval of the local authority and you should apply to your local town hall. They will provide the guidance and ultimately permit or disallow the change. However, if the house has a Number that cannot be changed.

Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Cubist

Many thanks for the reply!

 

[BlueTed]

You will be grateful to have a number so couriers etc. can find you! We have names only and so many couriers don’t even try to find us.

All correct advice on here. If you have a number you can name your house, but you can’t replace the number with a name.

Merry Christmas All.

 

[fernicarry]

We have neither number nor street name! Just house name, postal town (8 miles away, not the name of the nearest village), post code. Actually two house names as it was changed at some point and both still appear in the list.

I've noticed the number of couriers calling and asking where on earth I am has decreased over the years. I think their handheld gadget that they use to photograph the delivered item feeds the location info back into the big database and directs future deliveries to the exact same spot regardless of how the address reads.