Names: and Their Meaning

Why is it called Lloyd's? Why the Green Man? Leopold Wagner traced the origins of everything the Victorians had a name for — countries, tavern signs, flowers, wines, London streets, nicknames and battles — and found a story behind nearly all of them.

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Peckham Rye

Bruce Castle, Tottenham, has a history all its own. The present structure dates back to the latter part of the seventeenth century; but the original building was erected by Earl Waltheof, whose marriage with Judith, the niece of William the Conqueror, brought him portions of the earldoms of Northumberland and Huntingdon. Their only daughter, Maud, on becoming the wife of David I., King of Scotland, placed him in possession of the Huntingdon estates, and, as appended to that property, the manor of Tottenham, in Middlesex.

Ultimately these possessions descended to Robert Bruce, the brother of William III., King of Scotland. The contention between Robert Bruce and John Baliol for the Scottish throne being decided in favour of the latter, the former retired to England, and settling on his grandfather's estate at Tottenham, repaired the castle to which he gave the name of "The Castle Bruce." Lincoln House, Enfield, was the residence of the second and third Earls of Lincoln in the seventeenth century.

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