Place Name
A memorial plaque in the street names it in honour of Sir Thomas More (February 7, 1478 – July 6, 1535), a lawyer, writer and statesman executed in the nearby Tower of London. More was Chancellor to Henry VIII, and Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to May 16, 1532. He opposed the Protestant Reformation and Henry VIII’s separation from the Catholic Church, refusing to acknowledge the monarch as Supreme Head of the Church of England. After refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, he was convicted of treason and executed. The street was previously called Nightingale Lane, a corruption of Knighten Guild, derived from the original owners of the land.
