Place Name
Originally called The Avenue, most likely changed to avoid confusion with The Avenue in Greenwich Park. The Grove is likely to be a reference to the small clump of trees that run by the side of the nearby railway line. Blackheath was first mentioned in records as Blachehedfeld in 1166. It was Blakehetfled in 1226 and Blakeheth in 1275 and comes from the Old English words blæc and hǣth, literally dark-coloured heathland, on account of the peaty soil overlying the sand; with feld in the earlier forms, meaning open land. Samual Lewis, the 19thCentury publisher, suggested the name could say something about the heath’s bleak situation (ie Bleak Heath). Many believe it was called Blackheath on account that there was a mass grave to bury the dead during the Black Death of the Middle Ages. This is incorrect, as the name pre-dates the bubonic plague by some 200 years (the plague did not arrive in London until 1348).
