In a 1920s Ward Lock Red Guide for Bournemouth that I have, the entry for Wimborne closes with:
In a place where there is such an air of the past, it is not surprising that superstition should linger, although one would hardly expect any form of it to have official recognition.
Yet to gratify the popular prejudice, the authorities, when assigning numbers to the houses, preparatory to the census of 1911, omitted the number 13, so that throughout the town, with one exception which escaped notice, the numbers affixed to the doors ran from 12 to 14.
Is this really true - and how much of Wimborne was affected? Do they still do it? I've heard a few stories over the years, but this one was new to me when I got the book.
Can anyone elaborate?
updated by @iamtimbo: 23 Jul 2015 08:11:16
In a place where there is such an air of the past, it is not surprising that superstition should linger, although one would hardly expect any form of it to have official recognition.
Yet to gratify the popular prejudice, the authorities, when assigning numbers to the houses, preparatory to the census of 1911, omitted the number 13, so that throughout the town, with one exception which escaped notice, the numbers affixed to the doors ran from 12 to 14.
Is this really true - and how much of Wimborne was affected? Do they still do it? I've heard a few stories over the years, but this one was new to me when I got the book.
Can anyone elaborate?
updated by @iamtimbo: 23 Jul 2015 08:11:16
