Place Name
The embankment of the River Thames between Putney Bridge and the mouth of the Beverley Brook was constructed between 1887 and 1888. This was, says Dorian Gerhold in Putney and Roehampton Past, “a source of particular pride to the growing town. On 27 March 1888, with flags and bunting displayed and the bells of St Mary’s ringing., a crowd of a thousand people walked the full length of the Embankment and back to declare it open.” Putney’s relationship with the River Thames has played an important role in shaping its identity and development. Historically, Putney was a vital crossing point of the river, connecting Surrey to Fulham originally via a ferry. The original bridge, built in 1729, was one of only a few Thames crossings at the time and helped to establish Putney as a transit hub. The Thames also contributed to the area’s economy, with a significant fishery supporting local livelihoods. The most common explanation behind the name of Putney is that it is of Anglo-Saxon origin and means Putta’s quay or landing place, although an alternative suggestion is that it may be from the Anglo Saxon word pyttel (hawk) meaning the hawks’ landing place, alluding to birds attracted to the river’s fish. Caroline Taggart in The Book of London Place Names writes that it may have been a nickname saying: “More likely… Putta or his father or grandfather was given this nickname because he kept hawks, looked after hawks for the local lord or, equally plausible, had a hawk-like nose.” Whatever the case it was first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 written as Putelei, this spelling says John Field in Place-Names of Greater London “exhibits a number of Norman peculiarities, including the confusion of l and n, and an insensitivity to certain other consonant sounds” but having taken the country by conquest the Normans were perhaps less interested in native sensitivities. The name featured again in 1279 written as Puttenhuthe and Putneth in 1474. The first time the contemporary spelling came about was in 1639 when it was recorded as Putney al. Puttenheath. Gerhold writes: “The standard explanation is that Putelei simply reflected the inability of the Normans to spell English place-names, and that Puttenhythe combined references to the Anglo-Saxon personal name Putta and the hythe or landing place, which would have been the settlements most distinctive feature. Unfortunately this does not mean that a landing place must have existed since the Anglo-Saxons arrived, for place names continued to change until the eleventh or twelfth centuries, indeed it has been suggested that Putney may once have been called Baston (the ‘tun’ or settlement of Bass or Bassa), the name of the field east of the High Street. Not does it entail us to regard Putta, whoever he was, as the founder of Putney. Another theory is that Putelei in 1086 was not an error but the survival of the name of the Romano-British settlement, derived from the Latin word puteal, meaning the stone kerb or enclosure around a well or spring. This theory has itself been challenged on linguistic grounds.”
