Origin of the name Chingford

Origin of the name Chingford

The River Ching runs through the area, and the town of Chingford is close to a number of crossings of that river. However old maps and descriptions give a name for the settlement long before the river has a name and it is likely that the name of the river as "Ching" arose long after the settlement was named.

It is also thought that similarly to how Kingston upon Thames appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Chingestone and Chingetun (e) with ching being old English for king, that Chingford could relate to the King`s river, and King Ford. This idea is compounded by the Queen Elizabeth Hunting Lodge and link to royalty using the area for hunting centuries gone by.

However the most generally accepted explanation by place name genealogists is that the settlement`s name comes from an origin of " Shingly Ford"-- that is a ford over a waterway containing shingles.