Place Name
Legend has it that back in the mists of time a septet of royal huntsmen met in a forest clearing while their horses paused to drink from a stream and that is how Seven Kings got its name. Complete nonsense, of course. Rather, the name is thought to derive from Seofecingas, which means the settlement of Seofeca’s people. Seofeca being the name of a local Saxon chief, and ingas referring to people, family or followers. One of the first records of the name was as Sevekyngges in 1285. By 1456 it had transformed into Sevyn Kings. This area was developed during the late 19thCentury, and the street laid out along the course of a former footpath connecting Green Lane south with Romford Road – the stretch of the Roman Road known today as High Road, north.
