Newton village changes name after postal woes
- Published
Road signs will be replaced with the old name, which is still on the village sign
Residents fed up with getting mail for the wrong people have voted to change the name of their village.
Newton, near Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, is reverting to its original name Newton in the Isle "to set us apart" from the other 40 or so Newtons, the parish council said.
As reported in the Fenland Citizen, external, the name was approved at a recent meeting.
Council chairman Doug Fullbrook said new road signs were being drafted and could be in place by the summer.
Mail being sent without a full postcode often ends up in the wrong Newton, he said.
About 80% of residents of the village, which has a population of about 600, voted to go back to the old name, he told the BBC.
More on this and other stories from Cambridgeshire
"People coming to the village see 'Newton' on the highways signs then get to the middle of the village and see one of the lovely old signs which says Newton in the Isle, and they ask, how did this happen?
Doug Fullbrook shows off an early draft of the new signs that will appear on the road into the village
"Well, 600 years ago that was the name given to the village when it was formed as a settlement in about the 13th Century. The 'isle', of course, is the Isle of Ely," Mr Fullbrook said.
"Somewhere along the way someone decided to shorten the name."
Changing it back would "set Newton apart... from all these other Newtons", he added.
The process had been "simple" he said, and Fenland District Council approved the proposal.
Other Newtons
Newton in the Isle is commonly mixed up with Newton near Cambridge
There are also Newtons in the neighbouring counties of Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire
Other Newtons are scattered throughout North Yorkshire, Lancashire and Nottinghamshire as well as Scotland and Wales
There are also numerous versions of Newtons as well, including Newton Abbot in Devon and Newton on the Moor in Northumberland.
Fig Newtons are a popular biscuit taking their name from another Newton - this time in Massachusetts, USA.