Editing Chingford (section)

==Toponymy==
The [[River Ching]] runs through the area, and the town of Chingford is close to a number of [[Ford (crossing)|fords]] of that river. However, old maps and descriptions give a name for the settlement long before the river has a name and it is likely that the name of the river as "Ching" arose long after the settlement was named. The alternative view is that the ford crossed the Lea, and a location near Cook's Ferry has been suggested.<ref>The Place Names of Essex, by PH Reaney, English Place-Name Society, Volume 12 p19</ref>

The area of Chingford is referenced in the Domesday book as "Cingefort" from 1066AD.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/D7296921|title=Chingford Doomsday Book entry |publisher=Government National Archives|access-date=8 September 2017}}</ref> It is thought that, similarly to how [[Kingston upon Thames]] appears in Domesday Book of 1086AD as Chingestone and Chingetun(e), with ''ching'' being old English for the king, that Chingford could refer to the King's river, and Kings Ford. This idea is compounded by links to royalty using the area for hunting in centuries gone by, with [[Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge]]<ref name="Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge">{{cite web |url=http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Leisure_and_culture/Local_history_and_heritage/Buildings_outside_the_City/hunting_lodge.htm |title=Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge |publisher=Cityoflondon.gov.uk |date=16 December 2010 |access-date=14 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612205426/http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Leisure_and_culture/Local_history_and_heritage/Buildings_outside_the_City/hunting_lodge.htm |archive-date=12 June 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> still standing in North Chingford.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/green-spaces/epping-forest/visitor-information/Pages/queen-elizabeths-hunting-lodge.aspx |title=cityoflondon.gov.uk |access-date=6 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130812195830/http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/green-spaces/epping-forest/visitor-information/Pages/queen-elizabeths-hunting-lodge.aspx |archive-date=12 August 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Furthermore, there is evidence of King [[Harold Harefoot]] having lived in Chingford and the environs in the 11th century, a date which ties in with the Old English use of "Ching" for King.

Another suggested explanation by place name genealogists is that the settlement's name has its origin as "Shingly Ford"—that is, a ford over a waterway containing shingles.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://exploringeastlondon.co.uk/eel/Chingford/Chingford.htm |title=Chingford's Free Art and History |publisher=exploringeastlondon.co.uk |access-date=16 January 2012}}</ref> However, the genealogists' assertion is likely to be incorrect, as the usage of the placename name "Cingefort" in the Doomsday book predates the coining of the word "Shingle." The earliest known usage of the Middle English word shingle is 1200AD and the word was not used to describe loose stones on a waterway until three centuries later in the 1500s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=shingle |title=Etymology of the word Shingle |publisher=Etymology Online |access-date=7 September 2017}}</ref>

A further possibility derives from the form ''Chagingeford'' recorded in 1204, which may mean ''the ford of the dwellers by the stumps''. The ford over the Lea may have been at Cook's Ferry. The remains of pile dwellings, covering a considerable area, were found near the mouth of the Ching between 1869 and 1901, when the reservoirs were being built.<ref>The Place Names of Essex, by P.H. Reaney, The English Place name Society, Volume 12, 1935, Reissued 1969</ref>