Place Name
Nicholas Shaxton (1485 – 1556) was Bishop of Salisbury during King Henry VIII’s reign. He initially won favour with the much-married monarch when in February 1530 he sat as one of the committee of divines at Cambridge when the issue of the king’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon was referred. It was noted that he had been a supporter of the king. His career blossomed under the influence of Anne Boleyn, who appointed him her almoner. However, like so many, he fell foul of Henry when he opposed the king on matters of the church. Unlike many he survived after resigning his position and agreeing to recant. He died aged in his seventies. 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.
