Place Name
Coniston was called Coningestonin the 12thCentury, a name derived from konungr, the Old Norse for king, and tūn the Old English for farmstead or village. This would give the village the title of The king’s estate. W H Wedlock Ltd, the developers of the Barnehurst estate was established in 1902 in Barrow-in-Furness, in Cumbria, to maintain the then home of military contractor Vickers shipyards. When Vickers’s factories began to expand south during the First World War the company moved with them to Crayford. Post-war they moved into housebuilding buying Mayplace Farm and its 16 acres for £2,770 from the Barne family. Over the next few years they developed the estate, starting in 1926 Mayplace Farm estate based on Oakwood Drive. Their brochure offered a comprehensive range of house and bungalow designs at prices from £495 to £850. Their next development of Lyndhurst Road, Brantwood Road and Risedale Road started in 1929. And three years later work began on houses between Erith Road and Barnehurst Avenue. In a nod to their former home they named all the new streets after Lake District locations.
