A NOTE ON HOUSE NAMES
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The bestowing of names upon houses other than those of considerable standing is a relatively recent phenomonen. In, say, the 19th century, when everyone in the village knew everyone esle, there was little need for a house to bear an identity other than "so-and-so's" cottage! (Eagles House, Bentleys Farm and Harrys Cottage continue this tradition). After all, a stranger to the place seeking one of the inhabitants had only to ask one of the passers-by, of whom there was no scarcity in those days. Most of the houses - those without numbers, that is - have now been given names, some of them very recently, and sometimes the names have been changed (from Whyworry to Dove Cottage, or from Compass South to Ferns), probably because the new owners didn't like their predecessors' choice. Sometimes the name is an obvious one, sometimes less so - did you know, for example, that a braid in Scotland is an irregular piece of land? Or that The Blades are Sheffield United Football Club? Or which three names are sandwiched into Mielva?
There are however some cottages which still prefer to remain unnamed, known only as "The Cottage" - there's one in Manor Road, and one in Park Lane, and one in Helmdon Road, and one in Magpie Road, and probably others. And why not? Perhaps a refusal to adopt a label is a sign of a proud and wholly praisewortny independence, after all.
Acknowledgement: This section is based mainly upon invaluable information supplied by S.C.Wootton, with additional facts from documents by J.Trace, R.Clark, P.W.Henn and J.D.Critchley. Reference has also been made to "Traditional Domestic Architecture in the Banbury Region", by R.B.Wood-Jones, published by Wykham Books.