Place Name
Literal, this road leads to St John the Evangelist church. The church website says: “In July 1836, a small chapel, dedicated to St John the Evangelist was opened in Shirley, built to accommodate upwards of 200 people. As the neighbourhood grew the Chapel proved to be too small and Lord Ashburton gave a plot of land adjoining the chapel yard in order to provide a site for a new larger place of worship. Starting with two subscriptions of £1,000 an appeal was raised and in the autumn of 1854 building of the new church was commenced. The work was undertaken by Mr W Harris of Croydon, from the designs of Sir Gilbert Scott at a cost of upwards of £5,000. It was intended to accommodate 350 persons but by a little rearrangement, 450 were seated at the consecration.” The name Shirley means bright woodland, without a forest canopy blocking the light. It has also been suggested that as the village was not far from the old Surrey/Kent county border, the name may have come from the Old English word for shire but this is thought unlikely. It was mentioned as early as 1314 when it was written as Shirley, which in turn became Shyrley by 1461, and Sherlegh by 1498.
