Place Name
Agricultural heritage, renamed in 1935. Named after a 94 1/4 acre field, first last out in the Anglo-Saxon period, named Coalecroft. The local six field system – the others were Baston, Smallthorn and Waddon, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth – remained until development in the 19thCentury. Sometime around the 15thCentury, Coalecroft also gave its name to a mansion, first called Upper Place and later, from time to time as Lime Grove. This mansion was owned by the Twigge family, farmers who owned just over half of all Putney’s farmland as well as a third of all local dwellings. But their mark on local society was relatively short-lived, they vanished from the records after 1511, just over half a century since they first appeared. According to David Johns on the website PutneySW15.com: “Coalecroft, the west-side of which was also developed by [Henry] Scarth, started out as Vinegar Hill, then became Upper Parkfields, before adopting its current name. I don’t know why it was renamed as such, but back in the early 17thC the large field to the east of Putney Hill was known as Coalecroft.”
