Place Name
Directional, the road leading from Bromley to Chislehurst. The name Chislehurst was first recorded in either AD955 or AD973 in the Anglo-Saxon written as Cyeslhyrst. It comes from the Old English words meaning the wood on the stony, or more specifically gravel, hill. Cisel meaning gravel, and hyrst, wooded hill. David Mills in A Dictionary of London Place Names writes: “The ‘gravel’ referred to in the name is still evident in the rounded black flints and pebbles found in fields and gardens here.” The name has gone through various spellings including Chiselhurste in 1158 and Chesilherst sometime around 1762. The Anglo-Saxon word cyesl also gave its name to Chesil Beach in Dorset.
