Place Name
Henry Penton (1736 – 1812) was a MP who developed this area sometime around 1775. Ville became a popular term to describe new developments in the late 18thCentury. Penton’s father, a lawyer at Lincoln’s Inn also called Henry Penton, had bought the land in 1709 when the estate was still rural and the only property was a mansion called Prospect House. Penton junior, who sat in the House of Commons for 35 years from 1761 to 1796, developed a number of streets in an area of open countryside adjacent to the New Road. For many years the area had previously been known as Commandry Mantells. See also Penton Street, Donegal Street, and Rodney Street.
