Pendeford - Name and Origins

Name and Origins

The first known written recording of the place name 'Pendeford', was in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it was recorded with the same spelling as today - a rarity for place names. The name is thought by many toponymists to mean 'Penda's Ford', possibly a crossing over the nearby River Penk named after the Anglo-Saxon King, Penda of Mercia who reigned in Mercia from the year 626. Despite the origin of the name not being set in stone, the recording of the place name in the Domesday book tells us that Pendeford was in existence at the time of the Norman conquest, and that at the time, Pendeford was held by two Englishmen, Ulstan and Godwin. After the conquest, the land was confiscated and given to a Norman knight called William Fitz-Ansculf, as a reward for serving William the Conqueror.

At this point in time, Pendeford would have been little more than a few scattered buildings amongst woodland, bordered on its eastern side by a lake known in more recent times as Alleycroft Lake (the lake no longer exists, having been drained upon the construction of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal during the 18th century, though a marshy area remains on the site of the new I54 project to the north of Wobaston Road). Pendeford lay near the farthest south-west reaches of Cannock forest, which was much larger than today in early medieval times.