When we moved into our house on the corner of Factory Road and Gopsall Road in 1997, we had no idea how old the little street alongside us was.
One night in the wee small hours, the wall at the side of the house was knocked down with a loud and alarming 'thud'. We never did find the culprit, but we took the opportunity to paint the name of the road onto the wall when we rebuilt it.
The sign was much admired, but when the wall was damaged again a couple of years later - a few days after our other wall was demolished by a runaway van! - we decided to re-paint the sign, this time with a nod to what we'd recently learned: that Gopsall Road, long before it was given a proper name, was known as 'Ten Foot'.
Our Story
PAINTING THE SIGN
The sign was first made as a template, then the letters typeset to match, as close as possible, the lettering on the 'official' sign opposite. We added the 'FORMERLY', referencing the point size and font styling of street signs in the region which do a similar job - those for a cul-de-sac, for example.
The font is 'Goudy Old Style', with a reasonable amount of spacing and historically appropriate kerning.
The letterforms were applied with pencil, then painted in mega-permanent, specialist marker. We hope, however, the sign will gently age as appropriate, with time.
THE HISTORY
This is a section from a 1909 map of Hinckley, owned by John Coleman.
At the top, in the centre, you can just see the little letters spelling out 'The Ten Foot'. This is about two-thirds of the way down the length of the current Gopsall Road, leading from the top of Factory Road.
Our neighbours Mick and Jill, residents of Gopsall Road since the mid-fifties, shared with us their photographs of 'The Ten Foot' as it looked when they moved in; a dirt track on a sunny day, with Mick's Dad in the picture. There's a cart in the road - as in, horse and cart!
At this point, the houses only ran part of the way down.
Here's a nice big version of the same map, overlaid across a contemporary map of the area.
We've left it uncropped so you can get your bearings!
If you look closely, you can see the 'Ten Foot' lettering sitting just over the lower houses in Gopsall Road - and it's clear that the dog-leg at the end wasn't yet built up on either side. It's believed it was an orchard.
This is a close-up.
Note how this map still thinks Gopsall Road is a cul-de-sac!
Neighbour Mary also remembers the road being called 'Ten Foot'.
And we've since learned that the jitties across from us - the myriad little paths that run from Factory Road as foot-based shortcuts into the town - were known as 'Five Feet' or 'Five Footers'.
THANK YOU
Thanks to Mary, Mick and Jill, John Coleman and Terry for the information maps, photos and the two-hour 'Gopsall Road Massive' summit in the sunshine.
We are Leigh & Sarah, and we've been living in Factory Road (and as honorary residents of Gopsall Road) for over 25 years.
If you have any information or history you'd like to share, please let us know,
we'd love to hear it!