Abbotsford, New South Wales Newington College and MLC School. Abbotsford, New South Wales Abbotsford is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Abbotsford is 10 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Canada Bay. Abbotsford sits on the peninsula between Abbotsford Bay and Hen and Chicken Bay, on the Parramatta River. Abbotsford took its name from Abbotsford House, owned by Sir Arthur Renwick. He named his property after Abbotsford House in the United Kingdom, the residence of historical novelist and poet, Sir Walter Scott. Abbotsford
The Little Sweep Iken Hall, a large rambling farmhouse on the banks of the river Alde, the home of Margery Spring Rice. The child characters were transplanted from a nearby country house, Great Glenham, which in the late eighteenth century had been the home of George Crabbe, the author of the poem "The Borough" which had formed the basis of Britten's 1945 masterpiece "Peter Grimes". Great Glemham House was (and is) the home of Lord Cranbrook, a personal friend of the composer's who was at that time Chairman of the Aldeburgh Festival. Britten and Crozier adopted the names and personas of his children