Place Name
Named after the village of Richborough in Kent approximately seven miles from Quex Park. 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 in 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. Richborough itself takes its name a castle founded by the Romans in AD43 as Rutupiae. The name origins are uncertain but it is is thought that the first element may derive from the British-Celtic word rutu meaning rust-mud. Alternatively it may come from the word ritus meaning ford, referring to a crossing point between the then island and the mainland.
