Juniper Drive, Salisbury

Gin Lane

Juniper Drive is in the Paul’s Dene area of Salisbury, near to Old Sarum.

I can’t think of any bushes that might be juniper in Juniper Drive. It’s quite a ‘leafy’ area but the planting seems to have been done by the home owners since the road would have been named. Perhaps some of the . . . → Read More: Juniper Drive, Salisbury

Linden Close, Laverstock

Linden Close is in Laverstock, at the eastern edge of the ‘pebbledash-ed’ estate.

‘Linden’ is a word for ‘lime tree’, or ‘made from the wood of a lime-tree’ 1.

The names of the roads on the estate are a bit of a mystery to me – there’s no obvious relation between them. To use a . . . → Read More: Linden Close, Laverstock

Maplecroft, Salisbury and Maple Crescent, Wilton

Maplecroft is on the ‘Ridings Mead’ estate, to the south of the city centre. Maple Crescent is in the Fugglestone area on the east of Wilton.

Maples come in many different varieties. The sugar maple is tapped to make maple syrup.

The maple leaf is featured in the flag of Canada.

It has been a . . . → Read More: Maplecroft, Salisbury and Maple Crescent, Wilton

Oakway Road, Salisbury, Oak Tree Field and Oak Ash Road, Wilton

Oakway Road is to the north of Salisbury, near Pauls Dene Crescent. Oak Ash Green is in Wilton, off South Street. Oak Tree Field is on the way to Odstock, to the south of the city, near Salisbury District Hospital.

I don’t know if any or all of these places are named in reference to . . . → Read More: Oakway Road, Salisbury, Oak Tree Field and Oak Ash Road, Wilton

Pinewood Close and Pinewood Way, Salisbury

Pinewood Close and Pinewood Way both on the Bemerton Heath Estate, which is in north west Salisbury.

These are part of a small group of roads which are named after trees – the others being Cedar Close, Hazel Close and Rowan Close.

Poplar Way, Salisbury

Poplar tree

There are two obvious meanings of the word ‘Poplar’ in this context.

the Poplar tree – from the Salicaeae family Poplar in the East End of London

There many streets in the Salisbury area named after both trees (Sycamore Drive, Syringa Court, The Beeches) and parts of London (Westminster Road, West End . . . → Read More: Poplar Way, Salisbury

Sycamore Drive SP1

The sycamore tree is a member of the maple family.

Its most distinctive feature, at least to somebody as ignorant of botany as I am, is the ‘helicopter’ seed.

It is not native to Britain and some conservationists try to remove it 1

The word sycamore is actually derived from a different tree altogether . . . → Read More: Sycamore Drive SP1

The Beeches SP1

The beech tree is particularly common in Southern England and grows well on chalky soil1, so there are many in the Salisbury area.

FootnotesBeech [↩]

The Maples SP2

The maple is a tree of the ‘Acer’ family.

The maple leaf is, famously, the distinctive feature of the Canadian flag. It has been seen as symbol of Canada since the 1830s 1, but the flag was not adopted until 1965, when Canada became the first county to replace the Union Jack with its . . . → Read More: The Maples SP2

The Oakbournes SP1

‘Oakbournes’ is an invented word, as far as I can tell, made from concatenating ‘oak and ‘bourne’.

Oak The oak is seen as a tree of great strength – with ‘Hearts of Oak’, which is literally the middle of the oak tree, symbolizing the bravery. The oak is seen as the national tree of . . . → Read More: The Oakbournes SP1

This is currently my favourite book on Stonehenge. It covers the influence of the Stones on art, architecture and such