PLACE NAME
Faversham Abbey in Kent was founded by King Stephen and his wife Matilda of Boulogne for the royal tombs in 1148. It was populated by a party of monks from Bermondsey Abbey who arrived on site that same year. It takes it name from the nearby modern settlement at Faversham Creek which had been inhabited since pre-Roman times. First mentioned in AD811 as Fefresham, the name is thought to derive from the Old English elements fæfere, referring to a smith (from the Latin faber meaning craftsman, smith), and hām meaning settlement, literally settlement of smiths. The abbey was closed in 1538 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries and almost completely destroyed. Today, its remains lie beneath a local grammar school. 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.
