Place Name
Takes its name from Ebbsfleet in Kent. It was named by the Powell-Cotton family whose estate Quex Park is in Birchington-on-Sea, in northeast Kent. This road was originally on land of Shoot Up Hill Farm, which John Powell, a secretary to George III and onetime Paymaster General, bought as an investment in 1773. Both this and his other estate Kilburn Wood Farm were passed down through the family. Once the railways lines in the Kilburn area were established, the land began to be sold for housing. All the roads were named after places local to the family’s property at Quex Park, and later after places Major Powell-Cotton visited on his travels – particularly Abyssinia (Ethiopia) between 1899 – 1900. The name Ebbsfleet is thought to derive from the Old English word fleot meaning a creek and Eopwine a Germanic personal name; the modern Ebbsfleet may have developed from Eoppa/Eobba, a short form of this name.
