I HAVE lived at St Lawrence Green in Crediton for 16 years and have always believed that St Lawrence Green is the correct name.

A year or so ago a road sign calling it “St Lawrence’s Green” was put up next to the bus stop. I assumed that was a mistake, but a few days ago I received a letter from Mid Devon District Council addressed to me at St Lawrence’s Green.

The Royal Mail website says the correct postal address is St Lawrence Green so I rang MDDC to point out their mistake.

After a bit of kerfuffle I was told that street names are MDDC’s responsibility and they have it as St Lawrence’s Green, so the Royal Mail have got it wrong.

Having done a bit of research, I found:

St Lawrence Green in:

• the 1743 “Great Fire” map;

• all the old papers relating to my house, dating from 1920 to 1957, with one exception;

• the current Land Registry entry for my house;

• the Royal Mail online postcode and address finder;

• Crediton Street Plan (first edition) published 1992 based on 1904 and 1938 O.S. maps;

• Map of Crediton Town produced by David Symonds - undated but before the “77” prefix was added to Crediton telephone numbers;

• Curious Kirton by Anthony Geering, published in 1998;

• Crediton 2000, a book of photographs published in 2000.

and St Lawrence’s Green in:

• a 1923 mortgage deed for my house;

• the Listed Buildings Register;

• O.S. maps dated 1805 and 1890;

• a 1906 map reproduced in Albert Labbett’s Crediton Collection II (elsewhere in his books it’s just called “The Green”);

• Crediton and District Official Guide for 1986-87 published by MDDC.

So - do I live in St Lawrence Green or St Lawrence’s? Perhaps some Courier readers whose memories go back further than mine can throw some light on the question.

Either way the new road sign by the bus stop is wrong; if it should indeed be St Lawrence’s the apostrophe is missing!

David Jaques FFA/FIPA, FFTA

Wortham Jaques Ltd

Chartered

Accountants

High Street

Crediton