Place Name
In 1109 Geoffrey de Vere left some of his lands in Kensington to the large Benedictine Abbey of Abingdon, in Oxford. The Abbot there was an Italian man of letters called Faritius who had considerable medical knowledge for the time. He was treating Geoffrey, the eldest son of Aubrey de Vere and holder of the manor of Kensington. Faritius was unable to save the him but before his death he had granted the Abbot his church and some land in Kensington, although the deeds were lost when the monasteries were dissolved under Henry VIII. Because of his legacy this part of Kensington became known as Abbot’s Kensington and the parish church was named St Mary Abbots. The name Abington itself means the farm of the family of Aebba.
