WHEN VISITING KENTISH Town in north London, we parked close to a featureless cul-de-sac with an unusual name: Frideswide Place. In general, London’s street names are not invented ‘out of the blue’ but usually refer to places, such as Pretoria Road, or people, such as Gainsborough Gardens. I wondered whether Frideswide referred to a place or a person or something else.
A brief search of the Internet revealed that Frideswide is the name commonly given to Frithuswith, a saint who lived from about 670 AD until 727. She was an English princess (daughter of a ruler of Mercia named Dida of Eynsham whose territory was in western Oxfordshire and the upper reaches of the River Thames) and an abbess. She founded a monastery in Oxford. She is reputed to have had great healing powers, and is remembered for this. She is now the patron saint of the City of Oxford. This is all interesting enough, but why is there a road named after her in Kentish Town?
An answer to this question can be found on a website about Kentish Town (www.kentishtowner.co.uk/2013/04/10/wednesday-picture-whats-in-a-street-name/):
“Sometimes a whole group of street names will relate to one landowner. For instance, the area to the east of The Oxford was owned by Christ Church, Oxford University. This includes Frideswide Place (which is cut off by the railway) … It turns out that St Frideswide Priory, established in 1122, was the predecessor to Christ Church [in Oxford].”
And that seems to me a reasonable answer to my question.
yamey 