PLACE NAME
Muchelney Abbey in the village of Muchelney, Somerset is said to have been founded by Athelstan, King of England, and one tradition says that he did so in penance for his complicity in the murder of the Atheling Edwin in AD933, and another that it was an offering of thanks for his victory at Brunanburgh in AD937. Another tradition says it was founded in the 7thCentury by Ine, King of Wessex. The name means ‘Big Island’, it was recorded as Micelenie in the Domesday Book and comes from the Old English micel and the Norsk Øe. The -ey or -y suffix in Old English meant an island, and thus is common to many of the villages in the Somerset Levels, which stood as islands just above the marshes, which have since been drained. The abbey was closed in 1538 during King Henry VIII’s cull of the monasteries. 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.
