PLACE NAME
Sawtry Abbey was a Cistercian abbey located between Sawtry and Woodwalton in Cambridgeshire. It was founded in 1147 by Simon II de Senlis, Earl of Northampton who held the manor when the Domesday Survey was compiled. At that time the name is recorded as Saltrede, and by 1147 it is Saltereia. The first element may be the word for salt, from the Old English sealtere, and the second element is probably the Old English rið in reference to a nearby local stream, literally Salters stream. The stream may have been one by which salt was brought up from the fenland water ways. By 1416 it was closer to its modern form, Sawetre. Following the abbey’s dissolution in 1536 most of its buildings were demolished. 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.
