PLACE NAME
Beadlow Priory in the county of Bedfordshire is a former monastery established between 1140 and 1146 by Robert D’Albini for a community of Benedictine monks from Hertfordshire. The priory shares it name with the modern day hamlet of Beadlow which originated as the ancient country manor of Beadlow, known as Beaulieu in 1254. By 1590 it was Bedlow. The appearance of a name of French origin in this parish is likely connected with D’Albini whose family owned a castle built sometime after the Norman invasion at nearby Cainhoe. In 1428 the priory, by now in financial straits, was abandoned and absorbed into St Albans Abbey. It transferred to the Crown in 1434 and closed in 1435. 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.
