Venn Lane crosses the Pounds Park area of Central Park between Outland Road opposite Devonport High School for Girls and Peverell Park Road at its junction with Burleigh Park Road. Venn derives from ‘fen’ meaning low or rough ground. Only in 1981, 50 years after the park opened, was the lane closed to motor traffic.
Sixty yards along Venn Lane from the Peverell Park Road end is a rough track that leads off between tree-bordered allotments. It originally led to Lower Venn, the farmhouse, until the land was purchased for Central Park in 1929. The track’s entrance on Venn Lane is marked by a curved stone wall behind which used to stand Venn Cottage.
The last inhabitants on Venn Lane as recorded in the Post Office Directory of 1933 were A. Horton, a dairyman at Venn Farm and Margaret Taylor at Venn Cottage. Dates for when the farm was vacated and the buildings demolished have still to be ascertained.
