Place Name
Frinton-on-Sea, in Essex, was developed as an exclusive coastal resort in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Originally a small village, it was transformed when entrepreneur Richard Powell Cooper bought large areas of land in the 1890s and began developing it with the vision of creating a refined, upmarket resort. Strict regulations were imposed to maintain its elite status, including banning pubs and limiting commercial development, earning Frinton a reputation as a “dry” town. The place-name Frinton was first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Frientuna. The name is thought to mean fenced-in or enclosed town or settlement. It is one of ten streets running north-south sandwiched between Links Road and Seely Road which were named after consecutive letters of the alphabet running from A to J. They were laid out on Tooting Golf Course around the 1910s. Each named for a place in Britain, and most, but not all, after seaside towns. Ascot Road is an example of the latter. Alphabet streets were a popular device of developers when naming large estates, allowing them to pick traditional names that were popular with home buyers and create a uniformity, without having to put too much effort in.