PLACE NAME
Roche Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. It was founded in 1147 for some monks from Newminster Abbey by two powerful local landowners, Richard de Busli, likely the great-nephew of Roger de Busli, the Norman baron who built Tickhill Castle, and Richard FitzTurgis. At first its name was Sancta Maria de Rupe, from the Latin rupes, meaning rock or cliff, referencing the limestone outcrops framing three sides of the valley. By 1293 it had become la Roche, the Middle English word for a rock. The abbey was closed under the orders of Henry VIII during his cull of the monasteries in the mid-16thCentury. 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.
