Leslie Park Road, Croydon, Surrey - Clarification Please

[Emmyw]

Recently I added some more Ancestors on LostCousins. In putting in the page number for the 1881 census, I found that I already had a family with that number. It seems I had a 4th cousin once removed, and a 1st cousin thrice removed living with their families in Leslie Park Road. One was a riding master and apparently lived at the Riding School. The other was a coachman, along with two brothers who lived with him, and two boarders were grooms. The coachman lived at Artillery Pl, 3 Leslie Park Road. These relations of mine were in no way related to each other, and originated from different parts of the company.

Two questions, please, with answers from your general knowledge - I am not asking that you do any research for me:

Was there an army presence in this area at some stage?

I understand that the area suffered considerable damage in a Zeppelin raid on 13 October in 1915, and the building at 3 Leslie Road is quite modern. What I do not understand is what is/was Artillery Place? It is not a road on Google Maps.

Thank you, if you can help.

 

[Alexander Bisset]

Bear in mind that hundreds of roads in Greater London were renamed some several times. There was a great renaming in the 1890s so that no two roads had the same name and another around 1929. I have a book at home that lists the changes but there is also this list online.

You can view old maps of Leslie Park Road here. enter co-ordinates 533284, 166233 to get Leslie Park Road. Then select a map on the right. I looked at the 1870 and 1896 maps and there isn't much sign of military activity then indeed on the 1870 map most of the south side of Leslie Park Road appears to be fields. There is an L shaped block at the West of Leslie park road on the 1896 map that appears to coincide with what would be number 3. Perhaps that is Artillery Place?

Edit: Hmm no the modern numbering seems to be from the East so the west end would be the high numbers. The L shaped building is easier to see on the 1896 1:1056 scale map as a smithy.

At the East End there is a small lane going to a courtyard with a number of buildings, today this lane is part of Addiscombe Court Road. Could this be Artillery Place?

 

[Emmyw]

Bear in mind that hundreds of roads in Greater London were renamed some several times. There was a great renaming in the 1890s so that no two roads had the same name and another around 1929. I have a book at home that lists the changes but there is also this list online.

You can view old maps of Leslie Park Road here. enter co-ordinates 533284, 166233 to get Leslie Park Road. Then select a map on the right. I looked at the 1870 and 1896 maps and there isn't much sign of military activity then indeed on the 1870 map most of the south side of Leslie Park Road appears to be fields. There is an L shaped block at the West of Leslie park road on the 1896 map that appears to coincide with what would be number 3. Perhaps that is Artillery Place?

Edit: Hmm no the modern numbering seems to be from the East so the west end would be the high numbers. The L shaped building is easier to see on the 1896 1:1056 scale map as a smithy.

At the East End there is a small lane going to a courtyard with a number of buildings, today this lane is part of Addiscombe Court Road. Could this be Artillery Place?

Thank you very much for all of that - it was really fascinating. When I was googling up Leslie Park Road, I did find a family of farriers, who had a forge in the street - there seemed to be a preponderance of horsey people in the street, or perhaps that was just a sign of the times.

 

[JoyceH]

I think the answer is that formerly Addiscombe Military Seminary was close by. 1809-1861 see Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I suggest you read the article Addiscombe Military Seminary

 

[Emmyw]

Hi Joyce
Thanks for that - your help is greatly appreciated.