PLACE NAME
The former Stoneleigh Abbey in Warwickshire was founded in 1154 as a monastery for Cistercians monks from Staffordshire. It takes its name from the local area, which in Anglo-Saxon times meant a stoney lea or field. The abbey was closed by King Henry VIII during his cull of the monasteries and acquired, in 1558, by Sir Thomas Leigh, Lord Mayor of London, who pulled it down and built a house, which still exists today, in its place. It descended through generations of Leighs before passing to Reverend Thomas Leigh who, in 1806, came to view it with his cousin Cassandra Austen and her two daughters, Cassandra and Jane. 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.
