Mottingham
Description
Mottingham is a district of south east London inside the London Boroughs of Bromley, Lewisham and Greenwich. It is located south of Eltham, and 9 miles (14.5 km) southeast of Charing Cross.HistoryToponymyThe earliest records of Mottingham are from 862 AD when it was recorded as Modingahema, which means the land of Moda's people and is commonly interpreted as "the proud place".In the seventeenth century Thomas Fuller recorded in "The Worthies of England" a curious incident that happened on 4 August 1585:"...in the Hamlet of Mottingham (pertaining to Eltham in this county) in a Field which belongeth to Sir Percival Hart. Betimes in the morning the ground began to sink, so much that three great Elm trees were suddenly swallowed into the Pit; the tops falling downward into the hole; and before ten of the clock they were so overwhelmed, that no part of them might be discovered, the Concave being suddenly filled with Water. The compasse of the hole was about eighty yards, and so profound, that a sounding line of fifty fathoms could hardly find or feel the bottom."The cause of the incident, referred to as a "marvellous accident" at the time, was then unknown, and it is likely that a sinkhole had developed. The area is well coursed with streams, both above and below ground, and the collapse or shifting of subsoil might be attributed to them. The site of the sinkhole is now unknown, and the incident is also largely unknown. The only body of standing water that is in the area today is a lake at The Tarn Bird Sanctuary.In the NW corner of The Tarn opposite Mottingham Station is an ice well dating from about 1760 which supplied Eltham Lodge (now the clubhouse of the Royal Blackheath Golf Course).
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