Walthamstow Stadium

Walthamstow (/ˈwɔːlθəmstoʊ/ or /ˈwɒlθəmstoʊ/) is a large town and former parish in East London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It adjoins Chingford and the North Circular Road to the north, Snaresbrook and South Woodford to the east, Leyton and Leytonstone to the south, and Tottenham and the Lea Valley Reservoir Chain to the west. It is situated 7.5 miles (12.1 km) north-east of Charing Cross.

Walthamstow was originally an ancient parish in the Becontree Hundred and part of the historic county of Essex. It remained largely rural until the late-19th century, when the advent of the railway led the town to expand, becoming a suburb and forming part of the conurbation of London, similar to much of south-west Essex. The town has been the administrative centre of the London Borough of Waltham Forest, a local government district of Greater London, since it replaced the Municipal Borough of Walthamstow in 1965.

History

Toponymy

Walthamstow is recorded c. 1075 as Wilcumestowe ("the Place of Welcome") and in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Wilcumestou.

Early history

The Domesday Book describes Wilcumestou as a manor owned by the Anglo-Saxon nobleman Earl Waltheof of Huntingdon and Northumbria before the Norman conquest of 1066. After the execution of Earl Waltheof, the property of the land passed to his wife, Countess Judith, also known as Judith of Lens, a niece of William the Conqueror. The Domesday Book records 36 villeins, 25 bordars and 4 slaves living in the manor in 1086. Alice, daughter of Earl Waltheof and Countess Judith, inherited Walthamstow. She married the Norman nobleman Ralph de Tosny or Toeni (also known as Raoul IV de Conches) in 1103. When her husband died, c. 1126 , Alice gave the church of Walthamstow to the Priors of the Holy Trinity based in Aldgate, London.

King John stayed in Walthamstow for two nights in February 1208.

In the 1660s Sir William Batten, Surveyor of the