Place Name
Robert Aldrich or Aldridge (1507 – March 25, 1555) was Bishop of Carlisle in the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary. He was one of the great thinkers of his age making suggestions for adapting the church and its practises under Henry’s reformation. But he was never seen as a persecutor of the Roman Church and was clearly a great survivor having held a senior office in the face of both sides of the religious divide. Indeed it was said of him “the mildness or timidity of his disposition may account for his retaining his offices during reigns of opposite principles”. He was born at Burnham, Buckinghamshire, and educated at Eton and Cambridge. In 1534 he was appointed Canon of the tenth stall at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, a position he held until 1537. He was consecrated bishop of Carlisle on July 18, 1537. This is one of a cluster of New Addington streets – built from around 1934 by the First National Housing Trust – that were named after Tudor worthies in reference to the fact that Henry VIII used to own a hunting lodge for the duration of his reign on what became the grounds of Addington Palace. The driving force behind the Trust was its chairman, Charles Boot, which explains why the earliest part of New Addington estate is sometimes referred to as The Boot Estate. According to Addington Palace’s website it is rumoured, although never conclusively proved, that the king held clandestine meetings with Anne Boleyn there, during which time he taught her to hunt among other things.
