Mitcham: Difference between revisions

The [[Toponymy|toponym]] "Mitcham" is [[Old English]] in origin and means ''big settlement''. Before the [[Roman Britain|Romans]] and [[Saxons]] were present, stoodit was a [[Britons (historical)|Celtic]] settlement, with evidence of a [[hill fort]] in the Pollards Hill area. The discovery of Roman-era graves and a well on the site of the Mitcham gasplant evince Roman settlement. The Anglo-Saxon graveyard on the north bank of the Wandle is the largest discovered to date, and many of the finds therein are on display in the [[British Museum]]. Scholars such as Myres have suggested that Mitcham and other Thames plain settlements were some of the first populated by the [[Anglo-Saxons]].

The Domesday Book records Mitcham as ''Michelham''. It was held partly by the Canons of [[Bayeux]];, partly by William, son of Ansculf and partly by Osbert.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/surrey1.html#mitcham | title=Surrey | website=The Domesday Book online – Surrey}}</ref> Its domesday assets were: 8 [[hide (unit)|hides]] and 1 [[virgate]]. It had ½ [[Mill (grinding)|mill]] worth £1, 3½ [[plough]]s, {{convert|56|acre}} of [[meadow]]. It rendered £4 5s 4d, at a time when a [[pound sterling]] still implied something similar to a pound of silver.