Place Name
After a former lord of Alteham, the Anglo-Saxon name of Eltham, at the time of Edward the Confessor, who ruled shortly before the Norman invasion of 1066. He paid £16 a year for the right to hold the title lord of the manor. But little else is known about him. The Story of Royal Eltham says this: “Who was Alwold? We do not know anything about him or his family. But we may assume he was a rather important person, to the king would never have entrusted him with one of his own manors.” Following the invasion of 1066, William the Conqueror gave it to his half-brother Odo, Bishop of Baieux and Earl of Kent, under whom it was held by Haimo, sheriff of the county.
