Place Name
Directional, the road leading to Muswell Hill, which was first mentioned in the mid-12thCentury as Mosewella, meaning a hill beside a mossy spring, when nuns established a chapel here dedicated to Our Lady of Muswell. It was thought that the mossy well had healing properties. The Scottish king Malcolm IV is said to have benefited from its waters. By 1535 it was being written as Muswell and in 1746 it was Muscle Hill. But today’s name was by no means certain, and for a while the area had two names. In 1288 it was named after its then owner, a man named Pin, with it described as Pinnesknoll in the records. The two names persisted until the 17thCentury, when it was written as Pinnesnoll Hill al. Muswell Hill in 1610. But within a decade the tide had turned in favour of today’s name with Muswell Hill al Pinchmol Hill being recorded in 1617. The mossy well not only gave its name to the area, but also to the Moselle River, which rises on the hill. The location of the well is unknown.
