Colne: Western end of Greenfield Road

Image: © Dr Neil Clifton Taken: 17 Mar 2010

At its western end, Greenfield Road turns through a right angle to the north, so that this group of houses are perpendicular to the main run of the road. The numbering of these houses appears idiosyncratic, but can be explained in terms of their history. When first built, this was a block of sixteen back-to-back houses in eight pairs. The front houses, seen here, were numbered consecutively 102 to 109. The numbering was then continued round the back, so that the houses at the rear had numbers 110 (far end) to 117. Over the years, all except three of the back-to-back pairs were knocked through to make single houses, which took the number of the front house, in the cases of 103, 104, 105 and 109. Thus numbers 116, 115, 114 and 110 went out of use. In the case of the nearest pair of houses, however, when knocked through into a single house, it took the number of the back house, 117. So now we have at the front houses numbered 117, then 103 to 109, of which three, (106, 107, and 108) are still back-to-backs. And round the back, we have just three back-to-backs, Nos 111, 112 and 113.

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