While I was mapping house numbers and other things in Ballyragget today, I noticed something curious: Buildings with “Step” or “Steps” in their name. There is a “Step House” in Ballyragget (check on OSM), probably called thus, because it has 5 steps leading up to the front door (a common feature in Georgian buildings). To my knowledge, there are only one or two more houses like that in Ballyragget, so having steps outside your front door must have seemed remarkable enough for people to give it that name.

A.-K. D., CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Then two other cases came to mind: the Steppes Bar in Callan (check on OSM) which seems to be named after the steps to the left of the entrance. Weird plural, but maybe it’s from ye olde times.

The Steppes Bar by Humphrey Bolton, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The other example is the Step House Hotel in Borris, Co. Carlow (check on OSM). It features - you guessed it! Steps. (Which I have quickly added now to prove the point on the map.)

Do you know of any other examples? I can’t find any on overpass-turbo for Ireland, unfortunately.

• Step House, Newcastle-upon-Tyne