Place Name
In his book A Potted History of Ilford, Norman Gunby offers several potential reasons for how the ancient parish of Chigwell formerly in the Forest of Essex got its name. It is first mentioned as Cingheuvella in the Domesday survey of 1086; it appears in the Pipe Rolls of 1187 in the more recognisable form of Chiggewell, which may have come from the Anglo-Saxon personal name Cicca, and literally meant Cicca’s well. Alternatively it could be a corruption of the Old English word ceacge meaning gorse. Another theory suggests it was influenced by the nearby Chingford, meaning shingly ford; and finally that it could refer to King’s Well, a well which once stood where Brocket Way is today, as can be seen on the 1898 Ordnance Survey map. The street had been partially laid out by 1777; it appears on Chapman and Andre’s map of that year as running from the High Road to Loughton Bridge where, after crossing the river, it continues in parallel with a lane leading to Loughton Hall, before joining Loughton Street (today’s High Road). By 1898 the stretch from Loughton Hall to Church Hill (today’s Golding Hill) had become Rectory Lane. The use of Chigwell Lane probably came about after the opening of Chigwell Lane station in 1865.
