Melvin Close is in Laverstock, which is a village to the east of Salisbury.
It’s on what is usually referred to as ‘the pebbledash estate’ for the obvious reason that the houses are nearly all pebble-dashed. The effect of this is increased by the roads being made of some sort of concrete. It always feels like there’s a lot of light.
I’ve never been able to see any theme or reason for the road names on the estate, which is particularly frustrating because I grew up there.
‘Melvin’ is a ‘Christian’ or fore name. The etymology of the name doesn’t seem to be certain.
The ‘BabyNamesPedia’ website says that it could be:
From the element ‘wine’ meaning ‘friend’(1)
The ‘Baby Name Wizard’ site adds that:
Melvin might be an evolution of the obsolete Old English Maethelwine, Maeoelwine, a compound name composed of the elements maethel, maeoel (council, meeting) and wine (friend, protector): hence, “council protector.”(2)
The latter website says that the usage of the name, for babies, peaked in the 1920s. The pebble-dash estate was built in the early 1960s.
If you need accommodation in Salisbury, see the Hotels in Salisbury page.
Footnotes
- Melvin – Origin and Meaning of the boy name Melvin at Baby Names Pedia [↩]
- Melvin: Meaning, Popularity, Origin of Name Melvin | Namipedia | The Baby Name Wizard [↩]
