Place Name
Developed by the publisher John Maxwell on the site of his Dunstable House estate as a square from around 1870, more than 20 years later only the north and west sides had been completed. It is a widely held belief that the name is a reference to the gleaming white stone used to build Henry VII’s palace, at Richmond – it being a derivation of shining. However, this is a myth since the name can be traced back to Saxon times long before the palace was built. The manor was first referred to as Sceon in the mid-10thCentury coming from the Old English word scëon meaning sheds or shelters. The name Richmond came in 1501 after Henry VII’s earldom of Richmond, Yorkshire.
