Origin of The Name
Local legend has it that Welling is so called because in the era of horse-drawn vehicles, it could be said you were "well in" to Kent, or had a "well end" to the journey up and down Shooters Hill which, at the time was steep, had a poor road surface and was a notorious haunt of highwaymen. Until the 1800s, most of Welling down to Blackfen was covered in woodland which offered excellent concealment for outlaws and robbers who would prey on vulnerable slow-moving horse-drawn traffic.
However, local historians have recently concluded that the origin of the name is most likely from 'Welwyn' (meaning 'place of the spring'), due to the existence of an underground spring located at Welling Corner.
Read more about this topic: Welling
Famous quotes containing the words the name, origin of and/or origin:
“The two great things yet to be discovered are these—The Art of rejuvenating old age in men, & oldageifying youth in books.—Who in the name of the trunk-makers would think of reading Old Burton were his book published for the first to day.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“In the woods in a winter afternoon one will see as readily the origin of the stained glass window, with which Gothic cathedrals are adorned, in the colors of the western sky seen through the bare and crossing branches of the forest.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Art is good when it springs from necessity. This kind of origin is the guarantee of its value; there is no other.”
—Neal Cassady (1926–1968)