Brockley

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A residential area in the London Borough of Lewisham, in south-east London, known for its Victorian housing and local railway station
2. A neighbourhood in the south-east of London, lying within the borough of Lewisham and noted for its period architecture
3. The name of a district in south-east London, located in the Lewisham borough and home to a mix of residents and older homes

Etymology: "Brockley" is a place name rather than a common word, and it is built from two Old English elements that a reader can still picture in the landscape. "Broc" meant "badger", and "lēah" meant a woodland clearing or glade, so the name describes a clearing where badgers were found. The same pair appears in "brock," the older form of the animal's name, which survives in dialect and in names such as Brockhampton. The second element is the one that changed most. "Lēah" gave modern English "lea," a word still used in poetry and farming for open grassland or meadow. The "-ley" ending in place names like Brockley is the same element after centuries of wear, so the name reads as a grassy clearing rather than a forest opening. Many English towns and districts ending in "-ley" were named in this way, which is why so many of them sound like they describe pasture.