Place Name
Recalling the medieval area of Benchesham, the former name of the manor that covered modern day Norbury and Thornton Heath. The name itself is of Anglo-Saxon origin and is thought to mean Bynic’s homestead, after an old landowner. However, it was not recorded until shortly after the Norman Conquest when the property was passed to the Rochester Monastery. A dispute over the manor in the early 12thCentury saw it mentioned in a charter of 1145. It was recorded again as Bennechisham in 1372 and Bensom in 1721.
