Postcode Boundaries

Page 1

P O S T C O D E

B O U N D A R I E S Brian Steptoe



Postcode Boundaries Brian Steptoe


Cover: River Blackwater, Moor Green Lakes, 22 August


Postcode The creation of boundaries is an invitation to set differences between conditions on one side from the other. We live in a world of unintended consequences: the creation of the postcode system for improving postal delivery and reducing costs of providing this service is tarnished by a “postcode lottery” of differences in offerings such as health provisions and insurance costs, to name just two.. In the UK, postcodes are made up in two parts: the first designates the broader area to which items are sorted for delivery to their local sorting offices, the second denotes the street and address range for final delivery: the “outward” and the “inward” parts of the code. Postcodes have been adopted for many other purposes, those mentioned above being among them. A whole range of market and demographic uses also apply, not to mention the look-up facilities used to identify addresses from the codes and vice versa. Beneficial as well as more pernicious applications proliferate. How do the actual boundaries get set? We have to look to the Ordnance Survey for this. Code-Point polygons are used to make up the area and boundaries of postcode districts. The accuracy at which boundaries appear on various maps varies with the mapping resolution on which they are based. The free postcode maps have less resolution and may not accurately include or exclude properties close to the boundary in the correct postcode shown on these maps. There is a further step called “mereing”, aligning to actual features on the ground. Even in this mainly urban area, the boundary line avoids housing, crossing fields, placed in country; in locations without an ‘inward’ code.


North end, The Brambles, 5 September


Peacock Lane, 24 October


Heath Lake, 5 September


Cantley Field, 10 May


Lower Sandhurst Road, 28 August


Heath Pool, 2 September


Crowthorne Woods, 25 September


Heath Lake, 5 September


Railway footpath, 30 April


Finchampstead Ridges, 28 August


Cantley Fields, 10 May


off Nash Grove Lane, 28 August


Moor Green Lakes footpath, 22 August


River Blackwater, 22 August


River Blackwater footpath, 22 August


Barkham Ride, 24 April


Barkham Ride, 24 April


Finchampstead Ridges, 28 August


Training Paddock, Equestrian Centre, 29 April


Stream near Tesco’s, 29 April


Finchampstead Ridges path, 28 August


Finchampstead Ridges path, 28 August


Heath Lake, 5 September


Barkham Ride, 24 April


Crowthorne Woods, 25 September


Pound Lane, 20 May


Simons Wood, 2 September


Cantley Fields, 10 May


off Nine Mile Ride, 7 October


Crowthorne Woods, 25 September


Great Hollands Recreation Ground, 7 October


Moor Green Lakes footpath, 22 August


Simonds Wood, 2 September


Simonds Wood, 2 September


Footpath by Equestrian Centre, 29 April


Finchampstead Road, 29 April


Railway Footbridge, 30 April


Crowthorne Woods, 25 September


Equestrian Centre, 29 April


Nash Grove Lane, 25 April


Equestrian Centre, 29 April


Eversley Gravel Pits, 22 April


Footpath, Moor Green Lakes, 22 August


River Blackwater, Moor Green Lakes, 22 August


River Blackwater, Moor Green Lakes, 22 August


Heath Lake, 25 September


Barkham Village Hall, 24 April


Footpath by Barkham Church, 24 April


Great Hollands Recreation Ground, 7 October


Turnbury, Great Hollands, 7 October


Forest Road, 22 August


Eversley Gravel Pit, 22 August


Footpath off Pound Lane, 20 May


Finchampstead Ridges, 28 August



These photographs were taken of objects catching attention during walks on, or as close as possible, to the boundaries of UK Postcode RG40. All were taken during 2013. One of the references that encouraged this work were the photos taken by John Gossage of items catching his eye, particularly on his visit to Auckland, as published in The Auckland Project.

Š Photographs and book design, Brian Steptoe, 2014 Book layout created by InDesign


Hollybush Ride, 2 September




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