Albion Place


House numbering

The house numbering runs from 1 to 26, followed by Albion House (sometimes shown as 27). The 1849 and 1872 maps [2][3] however only show 26 houses in total including Albion House. I've found no record of a No.17 in any of the census returns or street directories that I have consulted, and there is a note in the margin of the 1891 census which states: "No no.17" . Scaling from the early maps, it appears that most of the houses had a frontage of approximately 20 feet, with the exception of nos. 13-16 (25 feet) and Albion House (40 feet). It looks as if the land was originally laid as 28 plots each with 20-foot frontage to the road. The four houses numbered 13-16 have a combined frontage of 100 feet, enough for five houses of the standard width. Maybe this is why there was no No.17.

Figure 4 - The probable original house numbering

Many parts of Ramsgate suffered from phases of renumbering, which makes it difficult to identify original addresses. However, checking through the records over the years, it is possible to trace families through from one census or street directory to another in a way that suggests that there was no significant renumbering in Albion Place. The only exceptions being that Albion house is ocasionally No.27 and that what was No.13 is now No.12A (a common type of renumbering by owners being superstitious of living at No.13). Other house numbers with an 'A' suffix appear occasionally, which are probably either basement flats or cottages in the rear gardens. It was not unusual for residents of a cottage in a rear garden to use an address based on that of the main house - even though they were actually facing a different road.

References:


[2] 1849 map
[3] 1872 OS map.