Place Name
Directional, the road leading from Lee to Eltham. There are numerous suggestions about where the name Eltham comes from. The most common is that it was from an Anglo-Saxon chieftain called Elta who owned land around here and it was first recorded as Elteham in the Domesday Book of 1086. But it has also been said to be from the Old English word elfitu, meaning a swan. A third idea is that the name was anciently written as Ealdham, meaning the old mansion or dwelling.
