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WOW! Thanks for ALL your replies and ideas!

Don - Yes, I've done a "Google Drive", and have seen that the houses now have the street name The Brae, with odd numbers on west side and even numbers east side. I think these street numbers would be modern day. Back in 1851, I doubt there were any numbers at all, with the enumerator writing a household number on the Census for each family, but giving a house number i.e. "1,2,3,4,5, etc Aucheninny" for the actual house lived in, as some house numbers had more than one family living in them. As which way the enumerator recorded the families, I can only hope he walked north, doing the western side first, as this would fit in for the innkeeper living at "6 Aucheninny", the present day Victoria Inn.

Hibee - the building I have circled in both photos would be the same i.e. Victoria Inn, its just the different lenses make them look a little different. Thanks for your map link. I was on that site yesterday, but couldn't one. Yes, extra eyes do help! I do agree that the Census was started from the south western side with 5 houses up the inn which would be 6, as shown by the address numbers written in the Census. I also agree that the house on the western side going up the hill look old enough to be from 1851, and big enough to house a number of families at the one address. As I indicated in Don's reply, I think the current house numbers are more recent.

Forfarian - thanks for the older map reference, which also compares a modern day aerial view. The old map basically shows the same buildings in the modern aerial shot, though the modern Victoria Inn appears it could be a newer inn than the original 1851 inn - that is providing I have the right position for the original inn. I'm only assuming this because "6 Auchendinny" had the head as Innkeeper. I've put my thoughts of the current numbering system in the previous replies.

KitCarson -  thanks for your kind offer. If you have nothing to do one day, would it be possible to take up that offer. I was wondering if you find out when the Victoria Inn was built, and/or whether there was an inn at location in 1851. In my "Google Drive by" I looked for a date on the inn but couldn't see one. Perhaps a local resident might know? It appears the inn is now a private residence? My wife and I will be visiting Auchendinny in September, but as we are on limited time, I'm trying to arm myself with as much information as I can now to save time when I get there.

Isobelw - I think that the current 5 The Brae, may not be the actual "5 Auchendinny" in the 1851 Census, but I reckon its one of the blocks in the possibilities?

Just a little extra from the 1851 Census - "1 Auchendinny" housed 3 familes, "2 Auchendinny" housed 1 family, though there was also one unoccupied household, "3 Auchendinny" housed 2 families, "4 Auchendinny" housed 1 family, and "5 Auchendinny housed the BENSON family. Next address was the innkeeper with family at "6 Auchendinny".

Les

I'm trying to establish where my wife's BENSON family lived in the small village of Auchendinny during the 1851 Census.

In that Census the entries are given a household number, then the actual addresses start as "1 Auchendinny" through to "28 Auchendinny". As Auchendinny is basically one street, would it be probable that the Census people just walked up one side of the street, reached the end, crossed over the road, and walked down the other side giving addresses 1 to 28?

Francis BENSON and his family are given the address of "5 Auchendinny", next to "6 Auchendinny" which is owned by an Innkeeper, presumably No.6 being an inn? The only inn that I can find in Auchendilly is The Victoria Inn, but I cannot find any history on it.

So, if you look at the photos, they roughly show the same view but one c.1920's(?) and one 2015. I've circled the Victoria Inn in both photos.

Now, my theory is, as there are roughly 5 houses on the left going up to the Victoria Inn (some changes over the years), do you think one of those houses on the left could be "5 Auchendinny", the house of the BENSON's.

Or, does somebody else have a more practical suggestion on how to work out which house it could be? My wife and I are visiting the town later this year, and it would be nice to know which one it was, or at least might be?

Thanks, Les.

Thanks Istrice for your reply, though I couldn't open the first link. But at least you gave me an actual church name to work off.

Thanks also to Forfarian for your reply - some things in it I wasn't aware of. No, I can't be certain if they were actually married in the church itself, I just presumed they would have been? I thought the document I had was an actual marriage certificate, but it appears to be a Marriage Register entry. If it helps any, I've attached the entry of BENSON and ARMSTRONG. It does indicate "If a regular Marriage signature of Officiating Minister", and that is signed by Robert Wright, but whether that infers they were married in the actual church, I don't know?

Sorry "RustyNuts" (?) the surname BABBS does not appear in the book.

Regards

Les