Speen, Buckinghamshire

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Speen, Buckinghamshire - Wikipedia

Coordinates: 51°41′28″N 0°47′02″W / 51.691°N 0.784°W

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Speen
Speen village sign depicting local trades
Speen Location within Buckinghamshire
OS grid reference	SU845995
Civil parish	Lacey Green
Unitary authority	Buckinghamshire
Ceremonial county	Buckinghamshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	PRINCES RISBOROUGH
Postcode district	HP27
Dialling code	01494

Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Buckinghamshire
Ambulance	South Central

UK Parliament	Buckingham
List of places UK England Buckinghamshire 51°41′28″N 0°47′02″W / 51.691°N 0.784°W / 51.691; -0.784

Speen is a village in the Chiltern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty,^[1] situated in the civil parish of Lacey Green, in Buckinghamshire, England.

The centre of the village (depicted by the village sign) is 3 miles (5 km) south-east of Princes Risborough, and 5 miles (8.0 km) north of High Wycombe. The village is a short distance 'as the crow flies' from Hampden House, originally owned by John Hampden and a further distance from Chequers, the country residence of the Prime Minister.

The village has an annual fete which is usually held on the first weekend of July and a bi-annual arts festival which has been running for many years. The festival consists of entertainment shows, a theatre production and general activities on Speen Playing Field.

History

The village name originates from Anglo Saxon. The exact meaning is unclear, but possibly meaning 'wood-chip place'. The name of the village corresponds to the location of the hamlet in the Chiltern Forest where trees were regularly felled.

The Baptist church was built by men of the village in 1802. The flints were apparently collected in their aprons by local women from surrounding fields, helped by their children. It is a Grade II listed building.^[2]

Surrounding Lands and Population

The village is in the style of a traditional 18th century village. Its surroundings consists of a mixture of woodland and agricultural fields. Due to the geographical location of the village no railway station was built. There are approximately 165 houses in the village which has a population at the time of the 2011 census of 637 and has an estimated population of 654 in 2019.^[3]

Speen Festival

The village hosts the Speen Festival, a culture and arts festival, in the September of odd-numbered years.^[4]

The first Speen Festival, in 2001, was based on a festival called The Leaves of Time, held in 1999 to celebrate the passing of the millennium.

Notable residents

In 1928 the artist Eric Gill moved to Pigotts at Speen, where he set up a printing press, and lettering workshop and alternative community.^[5]^[6] He is buried in the Baptist churchyard.
The composer Edmund Rubbra lived at Valley Cottage, Highwood Bottom, Speen, for many years following his marriage in 1933.^[7]
In the 1960s physicist Bernard Robinson bought Pigotts and in 1966 transferred his amateur Music Camp activities there.^[8] (Music Camp, an influential annual gathering of amateur musicians who tackled challenging repertoire with the aid of many professional musicians, was previously held at Bothampstead in Berkshire, from 1935).^[9]
His son Nicholas Wheeler Robinson (1937-2022) was a teacher who continued to live at Pigotts and carried on Music Camp activities there.^[10]

References

^ "Discover the beautiful Chiltern Hills, just 35 miles from London". Chilterns AONB.
^ Historic England. "Speen Church (Baptist) (Grade II) (1158973)". National Heritage List for England.
^ "Speen (Buckinghamshire, South East England, United Kingdom) - Population Statistics and Location in Maps and Charts". www.citypopulation.de. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
^ "Speen Festival". www.speenfestival.org. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
^ "Font Designer - Eric Gill". Retrieved 1 January 2009.
^ "Pigotts Roads. GILL, (Eric)". Archived from the original on 28 September 2011.
^ Jenny Pery, Benedict Rubbra: Point of Balance (Halstar Publications: Wellington, 2008), 15.
^ Bernard Robinson: An Amateur in Music, Countryside Books (1985), reviewed by The Musical Times, Vol. 128, No. 1734 (August 1987), p. 441
^ Humphrey Burton. In My Own Time: An Autobiography (2021), p. 80
^ Charlie Wheeler Robinson. 'Nicholas Wheeler Robinson obituary', in The Guardian, 2 September, 2022

External links

Media related to Speen at Wikimedia Commons

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Buckinghamshire Unitary Council elections County Council elections District Council elections Aylesbury Constituency Beaconsfield Constituency Buckingham Constituency Wycombe Constituency
Towns (component areas and hamlets)	High Wycombe Cressex Micklefield Sands Terriers Totteridge Wycombe Marsh Marlow Forty Green Princes Risborough Alscot Askett Cadsden Flowers Bottom Loosley Row Lower North Dean Monks Risborough North Dean Redland End Speen Upper North Dean Whiteleaf
Other civil parishes (component villages and hamlets)	Bledlow-cum-Saunderton Bledlow Bledlow Ridge Crownfield Forty Green Holly Green Pitch Green Rout's Green Saunderton Saunderton Lee Skittle Green Bradenham Bradenham Walters Ash Chepping Wycombe Flackwell Heath Loudwater Tylers Green Downley Ellesborough Butlers Cross Chalkshire Coombe Dunsmore Ellesborough Nash Lee North Lee Terrick Fawley Fawley Fawley Bottom Great and Little Hampden Great Hampden Green Hailey Hampden Row Little Hampden Great and Little Kimble cum Marsh Great Kimble Kimble Wick Little Kimble Marsh Smoky Row Great Marlow Bovingdon Green Burroughs Grove Chisbridge Cross Danesfield Marlow Common Hambleden Colstrope Fingest Frieth Hambleden Mill End Parmoor Pheasant's Hill Skirmett Hazlemere Hedsor Hedsor Widmoor Hughenden Cryers Hill Four Ashes Great Kingshill Hughenden Valley Hunt's Hill Naphill Naphill Common Widmer End Ibstone Lacey Green Lacey Green Parslow's Hillock Wardrobes Lane End Cadmore Ditchfield Lane End Moor Common Moor End Little Marlow Coldmoorholme Fern Handy Cross Little Marlow Sheepridge Well End Winchbottom Longwick-cum-Ilmer Horsenden Ilmer Little Meadle Longwick Meadle Owlswick Marlow Bottom Medmenham Bockmer End Lower Woodend Medmenham Rockwell End Piddington and Wheeler End Piddington Wheeler End Radnage Bennett End Radnage The City Stokenchurch Beacon's Bottom Bolter End Horsleys Green Stokenchurch Studley Green Waterend Turville Northend Southend Turville Turville Heath West Wycombe Booker West Wycombe Wooburn Berghers Hill Bourne End Cores End Hawks Hill Widmoor Wooburn Wooburn Green Wooburn Moor
Former districts and boroughs	Marlow Urban District Wycombe Rural District
Former constituencies	Buckinghamshire County Constituency Great Marlow Constituency
Parliamentary constituencies in Buckinghamshire Places in Buckinghamshire Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire

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