Place Name
For a street that started as an access road, across farmland to a varnish maker and floorcloth manufacturer in the mid-19thCentury its name does a lot of heavy lifting history-wise. For, as the Mitcham History Notes website explains it can be traced back to 1235 as the name of an enclosure of land. Long and Short Batsworth (originally spelt Battesworth) fields are mentioned in the sale of the estate of James Moore in 1852. They were part of the Blacklands’ near Phipps Bridge, the colour alluding to the richness of the soil. The name variously mutated as Batisworth in 1485, Battysworth in 1512 and Batchworth in 1840. It originates from the Old English meaning an enclosed farmstead of a man called Bætti.
