Dulwich Place Names

A reference work compiling references to Dulwich’s fields, roads, houses, and other named places, drawn from primary and secondary sources spanning the period c.1323 to 1900. Originally compiled in September 1994 and most recently revised in April 2026, the work draws on Patrick Darby’s research over several decades into the original records held at the Wodehouse Library at Dulwich College, the Minet Library in Camberwell, the Public Record Office, and other repositories.

Each entry is referenced to its source document, with most citations drawing on the catalogues of Dulwich College manuscripts compiled by George F. Warner (1881) and Francis B. Bickley (1903), as well as the manorial Court Rolls of Dulwich (1333–1626) and the leases of Edward Alleyn and his successors. Particularly important is collection BC:100, comprising 323 deeds and leases of the Dulwich Estate from 1626 to 1813.

The work builds on the earlier research of William Darby (Patrick’s father), the noted Dulwich historian whose two published volumes — Dulwich Discovered and Dulwich – A Place in History — proved immensely popular before his premature death in 1968. William Darby’s unpublished notebooks, in his “inimitable spidery hand”, provided much of the original material that Patrick has since transcribed, verified against original sources, and substantially extended.