04/09/2026
🔎 Local Lens #5 Answer | Tadpole Garden Village’s street names
For this week’s Local Lens, we’ve been looking at something we probably walk past without thinking too much about - street names. There’s a definite Arts & Crafts / Pre-Raphaelite theme running through many of them, with some fascinating names behind the signs.
Here are a few examples:
William Morris Way – William Morris, designer, craftsman, writer and one of the leading figures of the Arts & Crafts movement.
John Ruskin Road – John Ruskin, art critic and writer whose ideas about craftsmanship and design were hugely influential.
Webb Lane – Philip Webb, architect and friend of Morris.
Burne Jones Avenue – Edward Burne-Jones, painter and designer, and close friend of Morris.
Rossetti Lane – Dante Gabriel Rossetti, painter, poet and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
Millais Close – John Everett Millais, painter and founding Pre-Raphaelite.
Woolner Road – Thomas Woolner, sculptor and one of the original Pre-Raphaelites.
Ashbee Crescent – C.R. Ashbee, architect, designer and founder of the Guild of Handicraft.
Gimson Crescent – Ernest Gimson, architect and furniture designer.
Jekyll Close – Gertrude Jekyll, garden designer, horticulturist and writer.
Eglantyne Avenue & Jebb Close – Eglantyne Jebb, social reformer and co-founder of Save the Children.
And then there’s The Strawberry Thief.
The pub is named after one of William Morris’s most famous textile designs, featuring thrushes stealing fruit from the garden at Kelmscott Manor, Morris’s country home in Oxfordshire.
There are plenty more too - De Morgan, Beardsley, Siddal, Rackham, Kempe, Mackmurdo, Brantwood, Rodmarton, Pugin and others.
And interestingly, we believe some of the names may relate not directly to the person, but to houses or places associated with them - another little layer to the story.
I’m sure we have residents who will know far more about this, so…
Do you know the story behind your street name? Have we missed one with a particularly interesting connection?
👇 Let us know in the comments or give a like if you found this interesting.
