Place Name
Directional, part of an old route from Morden Park via Green Lane to Wrythe Green. The name itself, mentioned as camp. voc. Rithe in 1229, means camp by a small stream, in reference to a small branch of the Wandle which rises near here, and comes from the Old English word rið, meaning streamlet. By 1450 it was Le Ryth, and in 1484 Le Rye. “The name developed in the same way as Peckham Rye,” wrote John Field in Place-Names of Greater London, “but reverted to its original form and was then burdened (in 1867) with an unnecessary initial W”. Up until the late 19thCentury the lane had been known as Spartelmy or Sparkelmy Green Lane, and nearby Wrythe Green was called Sparkman’s Green.
