the village where the street has no name

If you’ve ever felt your part of the world has been neglected or is lacking a bit of identity, spare a thought for the villagers of Millthorpe.

Next week residents will choose a name for their main street which has stood anonymously since it was built and left a host of bemused delivery drivers in its wake.

It has been dryly listed as Village Street in council records since 1886 – a generic monicker given to unnamed streets and lanes.

To Royal Mail, it has no street name at all, with homes simply identified as house number and village name.

To Royal Mail, it has no street name at all, with homes simply identified as house number and village name.

Andy Heaton, who moved into the street 13 years ago, was alerted when asked to sign up to the council’s green bin scheme.

“We received labels which said Village Street, Millthorpe, so we phoned the council to say ‘you’ve sent the wrong ones’,” he said.

“But they explained for their internal use that was our address.

“It wasn’t that much of an issue until Covid came along which brought a lot more online shopping.

“Delivery drivers have difficulty finding us. Often, because we have a Sleaford postal address and no street, we will have calls from drivers who have ended up in Sleaford saying ‘where are you?’”

The lack of identity also left them in a pickle over trips to the waste recycling centre.

“When we try and book a slot and put our postcode in, we have to select Village Street,” Andy explained.

“And when asked to take proof of address we can’t because that’s not our address.

“We’ve had a few planning applications recently and they are difficult to track down because they go in as Village Street, Sleaford.

“Things aren’t insurmountable, but it’s creating a challenge.”

Villagers hope to christen it Millthorpe Drove at next Tuesday’s public meeting.

“Subject to there being no objections it will go to the district council to formally sign it off and change on their database,” Andy added.

“Then eventually we will live on the road we thought we had moved into 13 years ago!”

The name has been used locally for years, but the Drove officially ends before reaching the 30-odd homes.

Little progress was made since raising the issue two years ago, until district ward councillor and stand-in chairman of Pointon Parish Council, Peter Moseley, got the ball rolling.

“This change is long overdue, and we are grateful to the residents of Millthorpe for pushing this forward,” said Coun Moseley.

It is not the only locational anomaly the Heaton family have faced.

“We live on the border between the Bourne and Sleaford school catchment areas – it runs through our back garden,” Andy added.

“If the children went through the front door they would go to Sleaford schools, and if they stood in the garden they go to Bourne.

“That was our first challenge!”