PLACE NAME
Kirkstead Abbey, in Kirkstead, Lincolnshire, is a former Cistercian monastery founded in 1139 by Hugh Brito, (or Hugh son of Eudo), lord of Tattershall, for monks from Yorkshire. The original site however was not large enough, and Robert, son of Hugh, found a better site a short distance away in 1187. The name means the site of a church, Kirk being an Old Norse word for a church (deriving from the Greek kyriakon, meaning Lord’s house), and stede being the Old English word for an enclosed pasture. The town is named after and grew up around the abbey. The abbey was closed in 1537 under the orders of King Henry VIII and its monks executed for their alleged involvement in an uprising against the establishment of the Church of England. 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.
