Heritage pages exist not just to provide long-serving residents with a rose-tinted look into Wandsworth’s rich history but also to offer those who have recently moved here an insight into borough’s past.

With this in mind, Memory Lane this week looks at the etymology of some of the names of suburbs in the borough.

After the withdrawal of the Romans in 410 AD, Britain was settled by Angles, Saxons and Jutes from northern Europe who founded the settlements that grew into today's towns and villages.

Some Anglo-Saxon objects have been found locally but more important proof that they lived here can be found in many of the places names we use today.

While the home to soaring house prices in the past 30 years, Wandsworth has not always been such an affluent area.

In the Domesday Book, a nationwide survey conducted on behalf of King William I in 1086 to ascertain and record the fiscal rights of the monarchy, Wandsworth’s assets were: 12 cow hides, 5-and-a-half ploughs and 22 acres of meadow.

These assets were valued at a lowly £9 - less than the price of a steak in one of the borough’s many gastropubs.

Wandsworth appears in the Domesday Book as Wandesorde and Wendelesorde, meaning an 'enclosure of a man named Waendel', who was believed to be a successful Saxon. This also explains the origin of the River Wandle.

Putney was recorded as ‘Putelei’ believed to be derived from the saxon name Puttan and the old english ‘hyp’ meaning ‘a landing place’ or ‘Puttan’s Wharf’.

Balham was formerly known as ‘Baelenham’ in the year 957 and later as ‘Bealganhamm’ being derived from the Saxon name of Bealga, and the Old English ‘ham’, which meant a ‘homestead’.

It means ‘the home of Bealga’ and his family who once lived on a site in the area. The suburb was recorded as Balgaham in 115.

Tooting was officially recorded as early as 675 and later in the Domesday Book as Totinge.

From 1082, Tooting comprised of two manors - Upper Tooting and Tooting Bec, named after the Abbey of St Mary of Bec in Normandy.

Tooting is derived from the notable Saxon name of Tota and the Old English place name ending in ‘ing’ which meant literally ‘the people who lived at’, so Tooting translates as ‘the home of Tota’s people’.

Interestingly, Tota is also the basis of the origin of the word Tottenham which translates as ‘Tota’s home'.

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