PLACE NAME
Sir Francis Walsingham (about 1532 – April 6, 1590), principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I from 1573 until his death. After returning to England from a brief spell in exile on the Continent where he, like many wealthy Protestants, had fled to upon the ascension of the Roman Catholic Mary I, Walsingham embarked on a career in politics. He first served in parliament in 1559 and quickly rose through the ranks to become one of a small coterie of men responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Elizabethan state. England was emerging as a maritime power with intercontinental trading ties, and Walsingham’s foreign policy supported exploration and colonisation, the use of the Navy and the plantation of Ireland. His operations to penetrate Spanish military preparation, gather intelligence from across Europe, and disrupt a range of plots against Elizabeth earnt him a reputation as the queen’s “spymaster”. This is one of a small number of local streets, including Brooke Road and Worsley Grove, that have Tudor and Elizabethan connections on account of the former Tudor manor, Brooke House, which until 1954 existed at Upper Clapton Road north of the junction with Kenninghall Road. The street appears to have been built in the mid-19thCentury.
