Over the years a number of street names in Cheltenham have been changed. There were also a lot of individual house and terrace names to be found in old documents and maps which have since fallen out of usage, or been forgotten when the houses ceased to exist. Here’s your guide through the confusion.
Entries are divided into three lists: Renamed Streets – Obsolete Names & Lost Places – Demolished Houses. If you’re looking for a spa building, try the Spa Town article above.
As with everything else on this site, these lists make no pretence of being definitive but are in a constant process of being improved and expanded.
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RENAMED STREETS
- Albert Street – there were two Albert Streets in Cheltenham, one of which was renamed Charles Street in the 1950s
- Andover Place – now part of Andover Road
- Argyll Place – now part of Grafton Road
- Argyll Road – now College Gate
- Argyll Road North – now Argyll Road
- Bannister’s Lane – early combined name for what is now Henrietta Street and Dunalley Street
- Bathurst Place – now East Approach Drive (to Pittville Pump Room)
- Bean Street – now Clare Place
- Beaufort Place – now West Approach Drive (to Pittville Pump Room)
- Beckingsale’s Passage – now incorporated into Normal Terrace
- Belmont Place – now Belmont Road
- Belmore Street – now Belmore Place
- Bloomsbury Place – off Lower High Street. No longer exists. Totally wiped out c.1906 when the Honeybourne railway line was built
- Charles Street – not to be confused with the current Charles Street off Tewkesbury Road, this one was in Leckhampton and is now St Phillip’s Street
- Clare Parade – now Kew Place
- Clare Terrace – now Clare Street
- Coach Road – on line of present Lower Mill Street
- Coltham Lane – now Hales Road. Previously known as Gallows Lane or Hangman’s Lane
- Commercial Road – now Suffolk Road
- Cottage Place – on line of present Monson Avenue
- Councillors Alley – now Oxford Passage
- Dagmar Terrace – now Dagmar Road
- Day Lane – or Day’s Lane, now Grove Street
- Engine House Lane – now Rodney Road
- Fleece Lane – now Henrietta Street, named after the Fleece Inn which stood on its corner
- Gallipot Lane – most likely what is now Trafalgar Lane, named after Galipot Farm (see below), a popular gathering place which once occupied the Suffolk Square area
- Gallows Lane – very old name for what is now Hales Road. Named after the Gallows Oak which once stood at the crossroads with London Road, shown on 1806 map but gone by 1820
- Grafton Road, The – now Gratton Street
- Grafton Street – now part of Grafton Road
- Gratton Terrace – now Gratton Street
- Greyhound Lane – now part of North Street, the section running alongside Boots
- Grosvenor Place – now part of Albion Street, opposite Grosvenor Place South
- Gyde’s Terrace – now Grosvenor Street
- Hangman’s Lane – very old name for what is now Hales Road, see Gallows Lane
- Hermitage Place – now Hermitage Street
- Hewlett Street – original name for the lower part of Hewlett Road between London Road and Duke Street. An old ‘Hewlett Road’ sign still survives on the wall of the Fiery Angel pub, marking the former boundary
- Hewletts Place - alternate version of Hewlett Place
- Hewletts Road – alternate version of Hewlett Road
- Humphris’s Lane – 18th century name for North Street
- Lansdown Terrace – now Malvern Road. Name still applies to the long terrace in Malvern Road and the service lane behind it
- Lansdown Villas – now Lansdown Parade
- Lippiate Street – now Tivoli Place in Andover Road
- Lower Grafton Street – now part of Ashford Road
- Maidenhorn Lane – the part of St Paul’s Road between Folly Lane and Swindon Road
- Manchester Street – earlier name for the western end of Clarence Street between Ambrose Street and St George’s Place
- Manchester Walk – formerly a section of street between Knapp Road and Clarence Street
- Mount Pleasant – now part of Fairview Road
- Murder Lane – informal name for a previously anonymous service lane, now given the more respectable name of Wellesley Road. Name arose from the murder there of Emily Gardner in 1871
- New Gloucester Road – initial name for current Lansdown Road
- Oxstalls Lane – uncertain, but probably an earlier name for what is now Rodney Road
- Painswick Lawn – the southern section of Painswick Road, where it joins Suffolk Road
- Park Crescent – non-existent – was marked on some maps as a projected development within The Park, which never happened
- Park Road – the south end of Park Place
- Park Street – now Upper Park Street. Not to be confused with the other Park Street off the Lower High Street
- Pittville Terrace – now the western end of Clarence Road, includes the terrace where Gustav Holst was born
- Promenade Place – the section of the inner ring road which runs behind the Promenade
- Regent Place – section of Swindon Road between Dunalley Street and Brunswick Street, or the terrace that once existed there, long ago demolished
- Regent Terrace – a small stub of a street existing in 1834 off Swindon Road which was subsequently extended to form St George’s Street
- Retreat Place – now Montpellier Retreat
- Rutland Street – now the south section of Brunswick Street, renamed following 1930s slum clearance, probably because it had a ‘bad name’
- Sandford Mead Road – section of Keynsham Road between the River Chelt and Sandford Road
- Segrave Place – now Pittville Lawn, the section immediately behind the gates
- St Leger’s Lane – 18th century or earlier name for Winchcombe Street
- St George’s Terrace – now the south side of St James’s Square
- St Paul’s Street – the section now called St Paul’s Street South
- Six Chimneys Lane – now Arle Avenue. Name changed 1930s by residents’ petition.
- Stanhope Street – now optimistically called Hope Street
- Stills Lane – now St George’s Place, renamed c.1800
- Suffolk Lawn – older name for Lypiatt Road, though strictly speaking it only referred to the houses on its east side, which are a couple of decades older than the terrace on the west side and were part of the Suffolk Square development
- Swindon Place – on the site of the Post Office in Poole Way. Whole street wiped off the map following 1930s slum clearance
- Tinderbox Lane – now Fairfield Road
- Victoria Place – now Victoria Retreat
- Victoria Street – not to be confused with the current Victoria Street in St Paul’s, this name was once applied to the part of Fairview Road between Victoria Retreat and Hewlett Road, renamed to avoid confusion
- Wellington Grove – now Marle Hill Parade
- Wellington Passage – once a passage off Albion Street, now destroyed
- Wellington Place – now Wellington Street
- Whaddon Lane – now Whaddon Road
- Whitcombe Place – alternative spelling of Witcomb Place
- White Hart Road – now White Hart Street
- Winchcomb Street – alternative spelling of Winchcombe Street. At the High Street end, an old cast iron sign still shows this old spelling
- Windsor Terrace – now Windsor Street
- Workhouse Lane – now Knapp Lane, and much truncated
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OBSOLETE NAMES, LOST PLACES
- Albion Mews – once occupied the site of the Odeon Cinema
- Anchor Brewery – although long closed, the buildings in Warwick Place were the best surviving example of Cheltenham’s Regency breweries – until a large portion was shamefully demolished at the end of 2008. The corner building still survives, with a lovely fanlight over the front door with a lantern set into it.
- Arkell’s Farm – see Byrche’s Farm
- Ashling Villas – 19-29 London Road
- Bath Mews – off Bath Road on the site of present Cedar Court Road
- Bath Place – demolished row of houses in Bath Road opposite the Playhouse, some of which were on the site of Bath Road car park.
- Bath Villas – houses in Bath Road
- Bays Hill Villas – houses at north end of Bayshill Road
- Bayshill Parade – nos. 153-61 St George’s Road, either side of Queen’s Retreat
- Bayshill Terrace – the terrace in St George’s Road now occupied by the George Hotel
- Bedford Buildings – terrace in Clarence Street, demolished for the building of the public library in 1887
- Belle Vue Hotel – on the High Street where it joins Berkeley Place. Originally a private house called the Belle Vue, it became a hotel for many years (first the Belle Vue Hotel then the Irving Hotel) and survives as residential flats, now named Cedar Court
- Belle Vue Place – houses in the upper High Street opposite Berkeley Place
- Brampton Terrace – eleven houses now incorporated into Naunton Terrace
- Byrche’s Farm – also known as Arkell’s Farm, it once occupied land on which Clarence Square is built. The farmhouse itself was on the site of Camden Villa in Clarence Road, and was demolished in the early 1820s. Most famous as a temporary residence of the legendary actress Sarah Siddons.
- Cambray Meadow – field name for the area which is now the western part of Sandford Park, adjoining Bath Road
- Cambray Mill - alternative name for Barrett’s Mill
- Cambray Parade – an aborted grand plan for a vast crescent off Bath Road (opposite the Playhouse) ‘on a magnificent scale comprising upwards of 200 houses of the first magnitude’. It never happened.
- Camden Terrace – houses in a lane between North Place and Portland Street. Demolished.
- Cheltenham Mill - alternative name for Barrett’s Mill
- Cheltenham Original Brewery – see Gardner’s Brewery
- Christ Church Farm – once occupied the fields behind Christ Church Road, where Eldorado Road and Crescent are now
- Christ Church Terrace – terrace of houses at the north end of Malvern Road
- Church Meadow – the old field south of the parish church where Royal Crescent now stands
- Cleveland Parade – houses in Evesham Road
- Columbia Place – terrace of six houses in Winchcombe Street built c.1824 – still exists but now numbered as part of Winchcombe Street
- Conygree Cottages – two houses off Winchcombe Street, lost in slum clearance, originally an old field name
- Cross Keys Passage – off the High Street, opposite Grove Street. Named after the now vanished Cross Keys inn.
- Cypher’s Nursery – Queen’s Road. For 100 years a huge plant nursery, closed 1966 and its gardens now built over. Its ornate gates survive, now located at the High Street end of the Winston Churchill Memorial Garden
- Cyprus Cottages – short row of redbrick cottages in Alstone Lane, probably built in or just after 1878.
- Dunally House – also variously known as Woodbine Cottage and North Lodge. 18th century house still extant in St Paul’s Road, hemmed in by later housing. One time home of Lord Dunally, hence the name.
- East Hayes – later Joseph Pitt House, now Lansdown House
- Eight Bells Road – thought to be the old name of the little section of street behind the canopied shop at the corner of Clarence Street and the High Street. Named after an old pub called the Eight Bells which still exists but now seems to get a trendy new name every couple of years.
- Ellenborough Place – in West Drive
- Essex Villas - in Pittville Lawn, north end
- Fauconberg Terrace – 1860s terrace in Bayshill Road by Samuel Onley, demolished by the Ladies College in 1936
- Fauconberg Villas – series of detached villas by Samuel Onley in Bayshill Road (one demolished in 1968, the rest survive)
- Field Lodge – also called Chalybeate Spa Villa (see Spa Town article above). Mutilated stump of this once beautiful house still survives at north end of College Road
- Fisher’s Court – about 7 cottages off North Street
- Galipot Farm – 18th century or earlier farm on the site of Suffolk Square. The farmhouse was replaced by Suffolk House in 1808, itself now replaced by 1930s flats
- Gallows Oak – oak tree with self-explanatory usage, stood until early 1800s (shown on 1806 map but gone by 1820) at the crossroads between London Road, Hales Road and Old Bath Road. There was also a turnpike house at the junction called Gallows Oak Turnpike
- Gardner’s Brewery – Henrietta Street, also known as Cheltenham Original Brewery. In use by Whitbread’s until recent years, facade survives as part of The Brewery shopping development
- Gosditch – old field name for the area on which the St Paul’s streets are built
- Hamilton Place – terrace of houses on St Paul’s Road to immediate west of the church. Old cast iron nameplate still survives with this name. Some older maps show this as an earlier name for St Paul’s Road itself.
- Hooper’s Passage – off the High Street just west of Henrietta Street, later known as Tinkler’s Passage from its proximity to the ancient and much lamented Tinkler’s basket shop. All swept away, its site is now the entrance to a car park.
- Horne Field – green area in the centre of Suffolk Square
- Hygeia House - original name for Vittoria House (still extant) in Vittoria Walk
- Imperial Hotel – house in the Promenade, built as a private home, later the Post Office, now Ottaker’s bookshop
- Imperial Nursery – on the site of Imperial Gardens
- Jersey Place – houses in Hewlett Road, near junction with All Saints Road
- Jessop’s Nursery – once a huge and celebrated nursery and pleasure garden between St James’s Square and the River Chelt. Name survives in Jessop Avenue on part of its site.
- Keynsham Parade – houses on London Road between Keynsham Road and Old Bath Road
- Keynsham Place – villas on London Road to the east of Corpus Street
- Lemmington Place – houses in Prestbury Road opposite Albert Place
- Liverpool Place – passage off the north side of the High Street alongside former Woolworths
- Lower Alstone Mill - bottom of Arle Avenue. Most of its buildings survived until the flood defence works were done in 2006
- Marle Hill Lake – the artificial lake now known as Lower Pittville Lake (in Pittville Park)
- Marsh, The – area of land on which much of St Paul’s area is built, some of which survives as the western side of Pittville Park
- Marybone Park – old name for the land on which part of Tivoli is built
- Maud’s Elm – originally an ancient elm tree, subject to many local legends, on the site of the mini-roundabout in Swindon Road. Felled c.1906, the name survives in an adjacent property
- Mawe & Tatlow’s Museum – curiously shaped but short-lived establishment on the site of Barclay’s bank next to the Rotunda, displaying and selling mineral specimens. Demolished c.1843
- Montague Place - houses in London Road near corner of Priory Place
- Montpellier Baths - one time public baths in (appropriately) Bath Road, built c.1804 and also variously used as a salts manufactory and hydropathic centre. Now the Playhouse Theatre (the auditorium sits over the old swimming pool, which is still beautifully preserved underneath)
- Montpellier Brewery – on approximate site of Victoria Retreat
- Montpellier Buildings - original name for the terrace in Montpellier Spa Road
- Montpellier Place – pair of houses in the Bath Road, destroyed in the 1960s as part of the Eagle Star tower block development
- Nelson Place – houses in Evesham Road
- Normal School - once stood in St Paul’s Road next to what is now Francis Close Hall, formerly the Normal College
- Old Farm – 18th century or earlier large farmouse in St George’s Place, home of Captain Skillicorne, demolished 1858 for building of Shaftsbury Hall
- Oxford Buildings – terrace of four on London Road next to Hewlett Road traffic lights, name still just visible in the stonework
- Oxford Parade – row of terraced houses set back from London Road behind large communal gardens
- Oxford Place – 81-107 London Road
- Oxford Villas – three houses on London Road, on the corner of Corpus Street
- Parker’s Court – courtyard down Rose & Crown Passage
- Pittville Parade – houses in Evesham Road
- Pittville Place – houses in Prestbury Road on corner of Pittville Crescent
- Pittville Villas – houses in Prestbury Road backing onto Pittville Crescent Lane
- Plough Garden – once a large market garden to the immediate west of Folly Lane
- Plough Hotel – once Cheltenham’s main coaching inn and the focal point of the High Street, with a huge yard and stabling area at the back. Demolished early 1980s to make way for Regent Arcade, but a replica of its facade was built as the arcade’s entrance.
- Portland Terrace – houses in Prestbury Road on the corner of Portland Square
- Priory Buildings – terrace in London Road next to the Hewlett Road junction
- Priory Parade – terrace set back from London Road, next to Oxford Parade
- Pritchard’s Passage – off the lower High Street roughly opposite Grove Street, notorious for disorderly behaviour in 1830s
- Promenade Terrace – houses in Promenade opposite Imperial Gardens
- Queen’s Place – terrace on Tewkesbury Road roughly opposite Queen Street, demolished
- Rosina Garden – nursery garden of early 19th century, near London Road/Hales Road junction
- Seagrave House – former name for large old house in Lower High Street more recently called Normandy House (currently derelict)
- Sherborne Brewery – Winchcombe Street, behind Odeon cinema site
- Sherborne Terrace – houses in Fairview Road
- Six Chimnies Farm – old farm in Arle Avenue, of which the farmhouse was once an ancient manor house. Demolished 1930s for housing development
- Somers Place – houses in Tewkesbury Road, opposite Tesco’s. Demolished, probably for road widening.
- Somers Town – projected name for the series of artisan streets off Tewkesbury Road (locally known as Lower Dockem). Appears on 1834 map but otherwise name seems to have died out.
- Southampton Place – houses opposite Belle Vue Hotel in the High Street
- Springwell Place – houses in Sandford Street
- St Ann’s Cottage – large house once alone in its own grounds, now incorporated into St Ann’s Road. House now divided into two and both halves renamed.
- St Margaret’s Terrace – 1820s terrace built by lady builder Katherine Monson in St Margaret’s Road on corner of North Place, still extant
- Suffolk Mews – in Andover Street
- Suffolk Place – behind Montpellier roundabout
- Sun Hotel – once in Regent Street roughly on the site of the County Court building
- Tavistock Place – houses in Rodney Road
- Upper Alstone Mill – formerly stood on the River Chelt at the bottom of Millbrook Street. Site now occupied by the Millennium Bridge
- Warwick Buildings - courtyard of 13 houses off Winchcombe Street opposite Warwick Place, razed in 1930s slum clearance
- Wight’s Theological Library – once occupied the building in the Promenade now home to Jones’ shoe shop
- Woodbine Cottage – original name for North Lodge – see Dunally House
- Woodland Cottage – late 18th/early 19th century house in Rodney Road, once on the bank of the Chelt (before it was culverted), now occupied by Horsleys
- Worcester Villas – houses in Albert Road
- Yatman’s Yard – off the High Street, probably on the site of Grosvenor Street
- York Place – terrace in Bath Road
- York Terrace – terrace in St George’s Road opposite magistrate’s court
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DEMOLISHED HOUSES
- Abbeyholme – built by the architect John Middleton as his own home in 1866, originally called Westholme and filled with Pre-Raphaelite craftsmanship. Stood in Overton Road, demolished 1973 for a ghastly block of low-rise flats
- Alstone Lawn – large elegant house in landscaped gardens on the corner of Gloucester Road and Alstone Lane, demolished 1933 and its grounds consumed by the Pates Avenue council estate
- Arle House – built 1826 in Village Road, originally part of a large estate including two farms, demolished 1960 and replaced by dull modern housing
- Bays Hill Lodge – sometimes called Bayshill House or Fauconberg Lodge, built in 1780 and once stood alone on the crest of the hill in what is now Overton Road. Used as lodgings for King George III in 1788, demolished around 1856
- Belmont Cottage – on the site of Belmont Road, now replaced by flats
- Blenheim Villa – also on the site of Belmont Road, replaced by flats
- Brookbank Cottage – stood beside the River Chelt alongside what is now Honeybourne Way, demolished 1980s
- Cambray House – see Wellington Mansion
- Cambray Villa – later known as Cambray Pavilion, built very early 1800s on Bath Road, on the site of the Moon Under Water pub. Demolished 1929
- Casino – or Casino House, later renamed Halden House. Large house at the south end of Painswick Road, built 1820s and used for most of its life as a private academy, demolished 1930s
- Cheltondale - designed by John Middleton and built 1868, occupied the corner of College Road and Orrisdale Terrace on site of present hospital A&E department, demolished c.1982
- Clare Villa – later called Karenza, now the site of Cheltenham College Junior School
- Cranley Lodge – once stood in Wellington Square and was the home of a local WW1 poet, Cyril Winterbotham. Built 1820s, demolished 1986 for a block of flats
- Elms, The – large house in Swindon Road, served as a boys’ orphanage in later years, demolished 1979 and now the site of Pope’s Close
- Georgiana Cottage – later Georgiana House, north end of Bath Road, a favourite haunt of Lord Byron
- Gothic Cottage (1) – on site of Montpellier Arcade
- Gothic Cottage (2) – attractive house of c.1820 which once stood in Portland Street on part of the current car park site, demolished late 1960s
- Great House, The – built 1760 on the site where St Matthew’s church now stands in Clarence Street, once the centre of Cheltenham’s social life, demolished 1859
- Grosvenor House – off Albion Street
- Grove Cottage – once stood on site of Montpellier Street
- Hamilton Cottage – built early 1800s in St Paul’s Road on corner of what is now Brunswick Street, originally isolated and rural, demolished c.1880s to make way for The Engineers pub, now itself demolished and replaced by hideously ugly flats
- Harley Lodge – later called Crossways, once sat in the middle of the A40 on Tivoli Circus, demolished 1955 for road widening
- Holly Cottage – also called Holly Lodge, a villa on High Street opposite Berkeley Place, demolished to make way for College Road
- Jersey Villa – Hewlett Road. Marked on 1820 map.
- Lindley – 1860s villa in College Road, demolished 1980s to make way for a car park at Cheltenham General Hosptial
- Lindsay Cottage – later named Wolseley House. Old house from about 1805, occupying a site just behind Wolseley Terrace, originally on its own in the fields, but later built up with adjoining streets, demolished 1960s for a vile concrete telephone exchange
- Loretta – one of the villas demolished in the 1960s to accommodate the hideous Eagle Star tower block
- Marle Hill House – large house, once the home of Robert Capper, in the western part of Pittville Park. Demolished 1960s and Albemarle Gate now occupies its site.
- Monson Villa – the first of Katherine Monson’s houses, stood on the junction of Swindon Road and Monson Avenue. Built late 18th century, demolished late 1960s and replaced by the ugly Whitbread office block, now itself replaced by the ultra-hideous NCP car park
- Montpellier House – one of the Bath Road houses destroyed in the late 1960s for the Eagle Star tower block development. Another Montpellier House still exists near the Montpellier roundabout
- Nazareth House – on the Bath Road opposite Cheltenham College, demolished 1969 for the much hated Linotype-Hell offices, replaced in the 1990s by the even more hated Century Court flats
- North Parade House – Winchcombe Street, on the site of the vile Trinity House
- Phoenix Lodge – another casualty of the Eagle Star tower block
- Powers Court – early manor house, noted as far back as 1573, its grounds once occupying most of Rodney Road, and probably the home of the wealthy Power family who were resident in Cheltenham since medieval times. Presumably demolished before 1806 when Rodney Lodge (still extant) was built on its site. Another later house called Powers Court House formerly existed nearby at the corner of the High Street.
- Priory, The – large house on corner of London Road and Priory Street, demolished 1968 and replaced with a godawful office block, mercifully demolished in 2000 and replaced with a near-replica of the original house
- Rutland House – built around 1804 in Swindon Road opposite present Matalan site, originally a fine house in a rural setting, fell on hard times as the area became less salubrious. Had one end knocked off c.1830s when St George’s Street was formed, stood derelict for many years before demolition c.2004
- Sandford Lodge – apparently (1841 census) a detached house at the bottom of Corpus Street
- Selkirk Villa – very fine house on Pittville Circus (which it pre-dated) with curious rounded turret, built c.1817, demolished 1970s, though its blander replacement still bears the name
- St Margaret’s Villa – grand house in St Margaret’s Road, built by Katherine Monson in 1805 and serving as the Black & White coach station for many years. Destroyed during a WW2 bombing raid in December 1940
- Suffolk House – built in 1808 for the Earl of Suffolk on the site of Galipot Farm, in the corner of what later became Suffolk Square. Demolished 1935 for a block of flats.
- Tudor Lodge – on The Park, a Tudor Gothic house of 1837 built by architect Samuel Whitfield Daukes as his own home, demolished 1966 for a row of tediously bland houses
- Wellington Mansion – originally called Cambray House, though there was also another nearby house of that name, so it’s a bit confusing. Built in 1807 on land between Bath Road and Wellington Street, the River Chelt was re-routed to flow through its large gardens. Its became Wellington Mansion because it was leased several times to the Duke of Wellington. Demolished 1843.
- Westall – large old farmhouse formerly at Westal Green on the junction of Lansdown Road and Queen’s Road, demolished 1840s
