Place Name
The name Windermere is thought to translate as Vinandr’s Lake, from the Old Norse name, Vinandr and the Old English word mere, meaning lake. It was known as Winander Mere or Winandermere until at least the 19thCentury. W H Wedlock Ltd, the developers of the Barnehurst estate was established in 1902 at Barrow-in-Furness, in Cumbria, to maintain the then home of military contractor Vickers shipyards. When Vickers’s factories began to expand south during the First World War the company moved with them to Crayford. Post-war they moved into housebuilding buying Mayplace Farm and its 16 acres for £2,770 from the Barne family. Over the next few years they developed the estate, starting in 1926 Mayplace Farm estate based on Oakwood Drive. Their brochure offered a comprehensive range of house and bungalow designs at prices from £495 to £850. Their next development of Lyndhurst Road, Brantwood Road and Risedale Road started in 1929. And three years later work began on houses between Erith Road and Barnehurst Avenue. In a nod to their former home they named all the new streets after Lake District locations.
