Place Name
Once a quiet country lane that meandered along fields, it began to be developed between the wars. Its name is a reference to the nearby River Beck, a stream that rises at Spring Park, flows through Kelsey Park and into Pool River, then onto the River Ravensbourne and ultimately to the Thames. By coincidence a beck, is used in the north meaning a stream, taken from the Old Norse word bekkr, but that doesn’t apply here, for the river’s name is that odd thing, a back formation, taken from the nearby town of Beckenham, a version of which was first mentioned in the AD862, and means Beohha’s homestead, from the Old English.
