Place Name
Directional, the main road to Leyton. The area first appeared on record on the eve of the Norman Conquest, written as Lygatum in 1065, although the spelling Lugetune may have been slightly earlier. By the time of the Domesday Book it was being written as Leituna and later still as Luitan in 1201. It means a fenced enclosure or farm by the River Lea. The name is similar in origin to Luton and indeed in the 11th and 12thCenturies shared the same name – Luiton in 1223 and Luton in 1224. In the 16thCentury the addition of Low – as in Lowe Leighton in 1585 and Low Leyton in 1594 – was attached to the name but that was abandoned in the 19thCentury.
