When the railway arrived at Andover in 1854 and the Junction station was built, it was inevitable that the main road leading there would be called Junction Road but it was a pity that the town lost the former and much more pleasant-sounding Bishops Court Lane from its list of thoroughfares.

Today’s owner-occupiers would protest vigorously at such a change but in 1854 the only residents of that lane were the unfortunate inmates of the workhouse.

Having only just emerged from an infamous national scandal that exposed a regime of widespread starvation and ill-treatment from the workhouse master and his cohorts, conditions had still little improved.

Apart from the workhouse that was built in 1836, it was only from the 1870s that Junction Road began to be populated and indeed when Queen Victoria celebrated her golden jubilee in 1887, a number of roads were laid out on the western side, collectively called Victoria Park, and given suitably royal names – Osborne, Balmoral and Windsor Roads after royal residences, as well as Queens Avenue and Alexandra Road.

However, the actual building was piecemeal and it was many years before all the streets were filled up.

In those days houses were built by local family-run building firms who had neither the money nor the manpower to take on an entire estate.

They would build a few in a line such as a terrace or maybe a pair or two of semi-detached houses but more commonly it would be a single house for an individual who had bought an empty plot.

Drag the slider above to see Junction Road from 1904 and 2021.

This postcard view of Junction Road about 1904 is looking towards the town and the two pairs of semi-detached and the detached house between them had then only recently been built, whereas the two pairs beyond are some of the earliest in the road, built in 1871.

The low brick walls surmounted by decorative iron railings make a picturesque scene on what was obviously a warm sunny day.

On the opposite side, by the gas-lamp, was the entrance to Queens Avenue where building had hardly begun.

The motor car too had barely made its appearance, so the streets were clear of parked vehicles and front gardens devoid of driveways.

Andover’s population was slowly increasing and there was a need for housing.

But we had entered the age of the suburban villa and although Andover was no city, the newly-laid out streets did represent a separation from the packed centre, which was certainly old and in parts insanitary.

Simple numbering of the houses had been instituted in time for the 1881 census but it is noticeable that the new streets built up afterwards tended towards a system of naming houses, rather than numbering.

Sometimes a pair of houses were called No 1 and No 2, (the Laurels or Holly Villas) but it must have been particularly difficult at times to locate where somebody actually lived, especially if the street was a long one like Junction Road.

After World War I, the practice ceased and every house given a sequential number which made it much easier for both new visitors and new postmen.