PLACE NAME
A reference to the earlier Addiscombe Road, which according to East Croydon Community Organisation (ECCO) first appeared on a map of 1594, connecting the town of Croydon with the hamlet of Addiscombe to the east (today’s Sandilands), hence the name. The eponymous hamlet derives its name from an Anglo-Saxon personal name Eadda or Æddi’s and the word camp, meaning an enclosed area in Old English, literally Eadda or Æddi’s place. John Field in Place-Names of Greater London speculates that since the towns of Addington and Addiscombe are close by, it may be that one person owned them both. ECCO say that Lower Addiscombe Road first appears as a path across Croydon Common on a map dating to 1768. In 1801, it was referred to as a public carriage and was called Addiscombe Road, then St James Road, probably from 1829 when St James Church was built to the west. In street directories from 1865 it was referred to as St James Road East and finally as Lower Addiscombe Road from 1869.
