PLACE NAME
Thomas Cranmer (July 2, 1489 – March 21, 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and former Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. Cranmer, who had helped build the case for the annulment of Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon and wrote and compiled the first two editions of the Book of Common Prayer, found his life cut short during Queen Mary’s reign as she attempted to reverse the Reformation. He was brought to trial for treason and heresy, found guilty, and condemned to death by being burned at the stake. Even then, it was hoped he would recant his ways, as a dramatic account of his execution explained, with Roman Catholic priests and scholars doing their best to get him to recant even as he was tied to the stake. Laid out in the 1920s and 1930s during a period of rapid expansion in the area, this is one of a cluster of streets built by Davis Estates and named after prominent Tudors, a popular theme with developers at that time.
