| Speen | |
|---|---|
| Village andcivil parish | |
 St Mary the Virgin parish church | |
.jpg) Maize fields and the Lambourn, Woodspeen, Speen | |
  Speen Location withinBerkshire | |
| Area | 14.53 km2 (5.61 sq mi) |
| Population | 2,635 (2011 census)[1] |
| • Density | 181/km2 (470/sq mi) |
| OS grid reference | SU4568 |
| Civil parish |
|
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Newbury |
| Postcode district | RG14 |
| Dialling code | 01635 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Royal Berkshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| UK Parliament | |
| 51°24′35″N1°20′30″W / 51.40976°N 1.34165°W /51.40976; -1.34165 | |
Speen is a suburb, village andcivil parish inWest Berkshire, England. It is 2 miles (3 km) north west of the town ofNewbury, Speen hasclustered settlements, the largest of which is Speen village, which is contiguous with Newbury, and the others, buffered from the town by theA34 road, areBagnor,Stockcross,Woodspeen andMarsh Benham. Its other land is an approximately even mixture of woodland and agricultural fields including hay meadows for livestock feed and pasture.[2] The area varies greatly in elevation, having theReading to Taunton Line alongside the north bank of theRiver Kennet as its southern boundary and both banks of theRiver Lambourn in its north with elevated ground in between.Benham Park in the south-west of the area is alistedlandscape garden and house.
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Wickham Heath occupies the far west of the parish and has plantations of trees, such as conifers which are felled for pulp and wood products.Speen has the frequently interrupted footpath marking theErmin Way, the mainRoman road fromCorinium Dobunnorum (Cirencester) toCalleva Atrebatum (Silchester). TheSecond Battle of Newbury during theEnglish Civil War was fought at Speen on 27 October 1644.[3]Speenhamland in theparish, now part ofNewbury, was the home of theSpeenhamland system of outdoor relief.[4]
TheChurch of England parish church ofSaint Mary the Virgin is lateSaxon and is the oldest church inBerkshire.[5] It is the burial place ofGiovanni Battista Castiglione (1515–98),Elizabeth I's Italian tutor and servant, who was given the nearbyBenham Valence house and park in 1570.[6]
The church was built near one of the holy wells ofChristendom, which, is as with many wells, an enlargedspring.[7] Tenuous local tradition says its water is able to cure eye diseases and other ills,[8] and there have been reports it is haunted. Some of the village people have seen an old woman with white hair and wearing a blue rain mac wandering around the grave yard and up the path the well is situated on. The Ladywell was fenced off in theVictorian era.[9]
Next to the above sites are ramparts around the elevated Speen House, the latest incarnation of Speenmanor house, which is mostly late 18th century, but incorporates a minority of building materials from its 17th century predecessor. Early historians have dated a few stones among the foundations to theRoman village ofSpinae, but it is more likely that these oldest stones were sourced and hewn for the latemedieval manor house, nothing else of which survives.[10]
Benham Park or Benham Valence Manor, is a landscape garden byCapability Brown, centred on the house built byHenry Holland forWilliam, 6th Baron Craven in 1775. It was later the home of his widow,Elizabeth, and her second husband, theMargrave of Anspach. Both the house and park areGrade II* listed.[11] One of its pairs of grand and ornate gate piers (pilasters) is separately Grade I listed.[12]
Speen railway station, on theLambourn Valley Railway, served the parish until it was closed in 1960.[13] The nearest railway station now isNewbury.
The A34 road cuts through the middle of the parish in a roughly straight line north–south. It has thenucleus of the village to its east close to one of the three Newbury junctions and the road proceeds to a junction with theM4 Motorway atChieveley. There are local bus services to Newbury,Lambourn andHungerford.
| Output area | Homes owned outright | Owned with a loan | Socially rented | Privately rented | Other | km2 roads | km2 water | km2 domestic gardens | Usual residents | km2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Civil parish | 378 | 338 | 168 | 173 | 28 | 0.340 | 0.350 | 0.623 | 2635 | 14.53 |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
