Place Name
Takes its name from an early 12thCentury priory founded by Sir Robert de Sandford for Benedictine nuns on a piece of land called Cherley, later known as Littlemore, in Oxfordshire. It was originally dedicated to Saints Mary, Nicholas and Edmund, but within a few years this was reduced to only St Nicholas. The abbey was poor and controversial, especially given that the prioress and later one of the nuns were found to be pregnant. In 1524 Thomas Wolsey, the Lord Chancellor, recommended that the priory be dissolved which it was the following year. This street, like many others in this part of Abbey Wood, is named after an historic religious houses in reference to the ruins of nearby Lesnes Abbey.
