# Rauth Crossing: streets and places A directory of the town’s streets and selected properties. ## The valley town A low-rise valley town, river and gravel bars, one prominent metal-truss crossing, freight sidings, timber yards, mixed industrial and domestic buildings, gardens and wooded slopes. ## The two banks Old Town Bank contains the older market, civic premises, houses and mixed works. Rail Bank contains sidings, the timber quarter and hillside households. A single principal road bridge connects them. The plan is not an assertion that this town belongs to an empire or another named country. ## Named places ### 01. Crossing House **Civic · Bridge Street / Long Market** The local council meets above the records office. The building faces a small public forecourt, not a ceremonial avenue. ### 02. Register Rooms **Civic · Bridge Street** Title records, births, contracts and notices are kept in a plain annex. A separate public entrance prevents every enquiry from interrupting the council. ### 03. Common School **Civic · School Turn** A long school building and enclosed play yard occupy a quieter back plot. Deliveries use School Turn; children also arrive along foot passages. ### 04. Bridge Watch Room **Protection · Bridge Street** A modest watch room serves the crossing. Its staff handle road incidents and bridge closures; this is not a fortress or an imperial garrison. ### 05. Lowbank Clinic **Civic · Long Market** The old name survived a move uphill. The clinic now occupies a raised terrace with road access, away from ordinary river flooding. ### 06. Covered Provisions Market **Commerce · Long Market** A patched roof shelters food and everyday goods. Rear courts accommodate deliveries without making the entire market a freight yard. ### 07. Main Crossing **Crossing · Bridge Street** The principal road bridge links Old Town Bank to Rail Bank. The metal span is the town’s defining crossing. ### 08. Public Weigh Court **Commerce · Wagon Road** Loads are weighed beside the public road before entering private yards. The court leaves room for vehicles to turn. ### 09. Valley Freight Exchange **Commerce · Wagon Road / Sleeper Lane** The exchange coordinates consignments and wagon space. The accompanying platform serves goods, not a grand passenger terminal. ### 10. Timber Exchange Yard **Industry · Sawgate Road** The broad riverside yard holds graded timber above the main channel. Clear working strips separate stacks and loading equipment. ### 11. Sawframe Works **Industry · Sawgate Road** Sawframes and drying sheds occupy a long industrial plot. Homes remain nearby, but the active yard has controlled gates. ### 12. Crossing Machine Shop **Industry · Foundry Bend** An older machine shop remains among the town’s civilian streets. It repairs pumps, fittings and local plant. ### 13. Wagon Repair Shed **Industry · Ballast Street** A covered repair shed opens onto a siding. Its street entrance is separate from the live working track. ### 14. Power House **Industry · Cinder Reach** A squat plant and service yard supply the district. Its presence explains chimneys within the older settlement, not just across the river. ### 15. Upper Cistern **Service · Juniper Turn** A covered reserve stands on higher ground with a protected service enclosure. Its supply is kept separate from river landings and dirty work yards. ### 16. Public Washhouse **Service · Kettle Yard Lane** Tubs and a sheltered drying court serve homes with poor washing facilities. ### 17. Boat Steps **Crossing · Boat Steps Lane** Stone steps lead to a modest landing on Old Town Bank. This is local river access, not a guaranteed route to the coast. ### 18. Fire and Flood Store **Protection · Slate Rise** Pumps, rescue ropes and public emergency stores sit above the crowded lower streets. Its road apron remains clear for response vehicles. ### 19. Hook and Nail Inn **Commerce · Long Market / Low Bell Street** An inn with a meal room and small service court catches trade moving between the market and the bridge. It has neighbours, not an isolated picturesque plot. ### 20. Bread Court **Commerce · Baker’s Bend** Households buy bread around a small working court. Back-yard ovens and fuel sheds shaped the lane’s awkward bend. ### 21. Warm Room **Service · Upper Strand** A public room offers heat, meetings and refuge from bad weather. Maintenance is ordinary civic work, and disagreements over its use survive the weather. ### 22. Bridgekeeper’s House **Household · Bridge Street** A compact home with a repair shed, close to the crossing but above the low river edge. The household’s importance lies in work and local knowledge. ### 23. Three Gables House **Household · Three Gables Fold** A substantial, repeatedly extended family home shares a court with smaller related houses. Its boundary predates the road around it. ### 24. Orchard House **Household · Orchard Rise** A hillside household keeps an orchard, vegetable plots and a small growing house. A service path connects the dwelling to its road. ### 25. Long Window Rooms **Household · Sleeper Lane** A long boarding house rents rooms to freight workers and newcomers. Its laundry yard and neighbours keep it part of the inhabited town. ### 26. Ridge Shelter **Protection · High Pasture Track** A modest public shelter stands near the settled slope’s edge. It is a civil refuge, not a hidden military position. ## Named streets and paths ### Bridge Street Street. The older town’s principal approach to the truss bridge. ### Long Market Street. A bent trading street assembled from older stretches of road. ### Crooked Bell Lane Street. A narrow lane bending around inherited plots; its bell is long gone. ### Slate Rise Street. The upper contour road, above the crowded market streets. ### School Turn Street. The school approach, with a tight bend beside its walled yard. ### Low Bell Street Street. Workshops and rented rooms share this uneven lower street. ### Upper Strand Street. A riverward road interrupted by small yards and older property lines. ### Lower Strand Street. The lower frontage; raised doorsteps record its inconvenient position. ### Boat Steps Lane Street. Public passage from Low Bell Street to the small landing. ### Mudlark Row Street. A cluster of narrow homes above the lower strand. ### Alder Cut Footpath. A foot passage behind the plots, too narrow for freight carts. ### Silt Court Street. A crooked, shared court with a single vehicle entrance. ### Wagon Road Street. The freight bank’s public road. A marked level crossing carries it through the railway; it remains outside the working sidings. ### Sleeper Lane Street. Boarding rooms and wagon workers’ homes beside the railway. ### Sawgate Road Street. Access to sawframes and timber gates; the bridge remains the main crossing. ### Cinder Reach Street. An old industrial lane ending at the lower residential quarter. ### Foundry Bend Street. Machine shops occupy long plots around the bend. ### Ballast Street Street. A later road behind the exchange and repair yards. ### Ridge Road Street. A climbing road with awkward bends around occupied hillside plots. ### Orchard Rise Street. A smallholding road on the inhabited slope above the railway. ### Rainstitch Lane Street. An irregular loop serving hillside households and gardens. ### Moss Steps Footpath. A steep pedestrian shortcut; no vehicle access. ### Juniper Turn Street. An upper lane ending below the cistern reserve. ### High Pasture Track Footpath. A track to pasture and a weather shelter, beyond the dense town. ### Lantern Passage Footpath. A footway that threads between old house plots. ### Kettle Yard Lane Street. Service access to the washhouse and a compact shared yard. ### Three Gables Fold Street. A folded lane ending at three related family plots. ### Washhouse Cut Footpath. A pedestrian link between the washhouse yard and Alder Cut. ### Ropewalk Lane Street. A shortened remnant of an older working strip. ### Baker’s Bend Street. A lane turning around ovens, sheds and the back of the market. ## Cartographic conventions The plan uses an indicative one-metre drawing unit. Orientation and scale are indicative; building footprints and ground relief are illustrative. Contours describe the slope visually and are not surveyed elevation intervals. Gravel bars are left unbuilt. Footpaths are distinguished from vehicle roads. Crossbuck symbols mark the level crossings on Wagon Road, Sleeper Lane and Ridge Road; Wagon Road passes over two adjacent tracks at one crossing approach. Ordinary roof footprints are illustrative; numbered properties receive specific descriptions. ## Public period Before Aveline’s departure.