Place Name
Roughly laid out where Adelaide Street used to be. It takes its name from one of Lord Horatio Nelson’s ships that he nearly lost off Sardinia, he described the calamity as: “The Almighty’s goodness, to check my consummate vanity. I feel confident it has made me a better man.” In 1812 she was made a prison ship at Plymouth and in 1814 she became a powder hulk. Vanguard was broken up in 1821. There have been 11 Royal Navy vessels that have taken the name. This is one of a small cluster of streets that has a naval connection nearby are Nelson Close, Rodney Close, Hood Close and Renown Close. That said, it may also take its name after the Vanguard Way a long-distance walk of 66.2 miles from East Croydon station to East Sussex. The walk was developed in celebration of the 15th anniversary in 1980 of the Vanguards Rambling Club, who named themselves after an occasion when they returned from a walk travelling in the guard’s van of a crowded train.
