Almost down to a t

Much of our evening perambulations takes us through a network of roads lined with standard Victorian terraced houses. They are built on a former estate and the road this particular property is on takes its name from the original estate. As you might expect the names of the houses don't stray far from the norm for the era either. So when I noticed this one it struck me as rather odd by comparison.  An online search didn't throw up anything so I opened it up for discussion on a local FB group.

Every day's a school day isn't it and although we didn't get to the bottom of i,t lots of theories were offered and I learnt lots. I hadn't encountered a flat topped 8 as seen in the date before, but I understand that rather stylised version was popular at the time and is seen quite often. However, with regards to the possible "T" suggestions varied from whether it was some type of insurance mark or a builders marker to whether it denoted a tied or a tenant's cottage. The one I liked the most was that it might have been a Temperance mark and shown that the occupiers had taken a pledge of abstinence from the demon drink...there were some very prominent members of the Temperance movement within the town [they owned one of the hotels in the town centre] and maybe one of their number had put up the money for this house. Sillier ideas were it was a half finished game of hang man or that it looked like a bird table....

I may be none the wiser, but I did enjoy engaging with people and the lively discussion thread that ensued. Maybe one day I might be able to clear up this little mystery!

Arilx