Place Name
Named after the monastery founded by Henry V in 1414 which he dedicated to the Holy Saviour of St Brigid, to which of Zion was later added, although it is not known why. David Mills in A Dictionary of London Place Names suggests: “de Syon (that is ‘of Zion’) was added, apparently with reference to the hill of Zion in Jerusalem on which David built the Temple.” The original monastery was in Twickenham but it moved to Isleworth in 1431. The name of the house survived the suppression of the monasteries, the crown’s land grab against the Roman Catholic Church. It was written as Istelworth Syon (meaning Sion near Isleworth) in 1564, 30 years after Henry VIII gave the monastery and its estate to Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset. Syon House has been the home of the Percys, Dukes of Northumberland, since 1594.
