Holland Park Living
Kensington as a medical fee
There has been church at the corner of Kensington High Street and Kensington Church Street since before the Norman conquest. Kensington High Street was then merely the ancient road from London to the village of Hammersmith. Until the 18th century, Kensington was little more than a hamlet near the junction of these two roads.
Shortly after the Norman conquest, Aubrey de Vere was the lord of the manor of Kensington. His son Godfrey had been cured of a serious illness by the Abbot of the Abbey of St Mary at Abingdon. As Godfrey lay dying once again – and perhaps thinking he should settle an old debt of gratitude, if he was to come through yet again – he made his father promise to give the Church and the village to the Abbey.
Consequently for nearly 500 years the manor of Kensington belonged to the Church and the manor became known as Abbots Kensington. In 1538 King Henry VIII split from Rome, dissolved the monasteries and seized their lands. Kensington passed from the Church to the Crown
