Can anyone explain the origin of the following names:
Pimlico
Belgravia
Swiss Cottage
Mansion House
Pimlico. Origins unknown. The name has been in use since the early seventeenth century. One of the more colourful suggestions is that it was named after the Pamlico tribe of Native Americans.
Belgravia. Centred on Belgrave Square, which was named after one of the Leicestershire estates of the Grosvenors, the family who developed the area.
Swiss Cottage. Named after a local pub which was built in the style of a chalet.
Mansion House. A Tube station rather than a district. Named after the Mansion House, the offical residence of the Lord Mayor of London.
I heard Mansion House mentioned in a P.G. Wodehouse novel
and wondered what it was.
From what I’ve heard, not much is known of London history
before the great fire in the 1600’s, but were most of these
localities independent towns that gradually got
annexed by London, kind of like what happened to towns surrounding Los Angeles?
Quite a bit is known about the history of London before the Great Fire of 1666 and many of the streetnames etc. survive from that period. However, at that date and for some time thereafter, ‘London’ consisted of little more than the City itself (the Square Mile), Westminster, Southwark and some adjacent suburbs. Large-scale expansion really only took place in the last two centuries, mainly as a result of the development of the railways. Most of the major mainline London railway stations were built on sites which were then on the edge of the city. As you say, expansion had the effect of engulfing all the surrounding villages, which then became suburbs. As with Belgravia, many parts of central London outwith the City were named by the aristocratic landowners who developed them.
APB is right that a remarkable amount is known about pre-1666 London, going back to pre-Roman times (including the town’s virtual destruction by Boudica in or about 60 AD). Many of the district and borough names are truly ancient, often adaptations of Celtic names (often filtered through Latin by the Romans), or Saxon, or Viking. Many names were old even before they were recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086 AD.
For instance, Dagenham, a district of London, probably comes from “Daecca’s homestead,” recorded as early as 690 AD.
Here’s a table of English place names based on early languages.
If you ever go to London, don’t miss the Museum of London, hidden in the Skinner-box like Barbican Centre. It is essentially London’s story, with many incredible artifacts, including a Roman Temple discovered when digging tunnels for the Tube, a hoard of jewels from Elizabethan times, and the Lord Mayor’s Coach.
Thanks, I’ll certainly check those out when I go. I can recommend very heartily the Hammer Collection at Somerset House, which I used to visit often when it was here in Los Angeles, before His Nibs Arthur Gilbert took it away from us. It’s one of a kind and absolutely magnificent.