Place Name
Abbotsbury Abbey was a Benedictine monastery founded in Dorset, in the 11thCentury by King Cnut’s retainer Orc and his wife Tola, who endowed the monastery with lands in the area. The abbey prospered and became a local centre of power, controlling eight manor houses and villages. During the later Middle Ages, the abbey suffered much misfortune. In the time of the dissolution of the monasteries, the last abbot surrendered the abbey and the site became the property of Sir Giles Strangways. Today, a small part of the former abbey estate, including the abbey’s remains, and those of the nearby St Catherine’s Chapel. Like many of the roads on the St Helier’s estate this is named after British monasteries and abbeys in remembrance of the area’s historic ownership by Westminster Abbey. The road names are in alphabetical order, of which Aberconway Road in the north west of the estate is first.
