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| HER Number | MWB4831 |
|---|
| Record Type | Monument |
|---|
| Name | SPEEN VILLAGE |
|---|
Summary
Saxon and medieval village, presumably originally sited around the church although the focus later shifted to Speen Lane and the Bath Road
Associated Legal Designations or Protected Status
Other Statuses and Cross-References
- Berkshire SMR No. (pre 2000): 02909.00.000
Monument Type(s):
- VILLAGE (Early Medieval/Dark Age to Late 19th century - 410 AD to 1900 AD)
- MARKET (13th century - 1218 AD to 1218 AD)
Full Description
'SPENE' RECORDED IN 821 ACCORDING TO W DE G BIRCH'S 'CARTULARIUM SAXONICUM' (1885-93) <1><2>. 'SPONE' RECORDED IN THE DOMESDAY BOOK (1086) <3>. LATER VERSIONS OF THE NAME INCLUDE SPENES (1167), SPENIS (1224), AND CHURCHSPENE (1460).
The origin of the name Speen is uncertain, although as Gelling summarises <2><7>, the English one cannot be derived directly from the 'Spinis' of the Antonine Itinerary. Antiquarians, however, considered Speen to have been a Roman encampment <5><11>, partly due to the earthworks around Speen House. There is also a holy well north of the 11th century church of St Mary.
The Saxon settlement focus was presumably in the area of the church, although there is no definitive evidence for this. There were two principal manors in the parish, Church Speen and Wood Speen; the others were Speenhamland, Benham-Valence and Bagnor <5>. Astill <8> lists Speen as a village with a market in 1218, granted to William Marshall <12>. An early 18th century map gives much detail of Speen's landscape <9>. The village was distinct from Newbury up until the mid 20th century with much of the intervening land used as nurseries <10> but is now largely joined to the town by suburban growth.
Sources and further reading
| <01> | Birch, W de G (ed). 1885-1893. Cartularium Saxonicum. 366. [Monograph / SWB13686]
http://ota.ahds.ac.uk/desc/0511 (Accessed 06/01/2016) |
| <02> | Gelling, M. 1973. The Place Names of Berkshire - Part One. English Place-Name Society Vol XLIX. p266. [Monograph / SWB10003] |
| <03> | Morgan, P (ed). 1979. Domesday Book - Berkshire. DB5. 63a. [Monograph / SWB14587]
https://opendomesday.org/ (Accessed 11/01/2023) |
| <04> | Gray, E W (ed)?. pre 1839. The History and Antiquities of Newbury and its Environs. p153-72. [Monograph / SWB11182]
https://archive.org/details/historyandantiq00unkngoog (Accessed 16/07/2019) |
| <05> | Money, W. 1892. The History of Speen. p1-103. [Monograph / SWB11824] |
| <06> | Betjeman, J and Piper, J (eds). 1949. Murray's Berkshire Architectural Guide. p143. [Monograph / SWB10404] |
| <07> | 1970. Britannia 1970 1. I. p79. [Article in serial / SWB147346] |
| <08> | Astill, G G. 1978. Historic Towns in Berkshire: an archaeological appraisal. P8. [Monograph / SWB10869] |
| <09> | Commissioned by the Duke of Chandos. 1729/30. Map of Speen Manor. [Map / SWB12939] |
| <10> | ?. ?. Aerial photograph of Speen Parish. Aerial Photo. [Photograph / SWB13329] |
| <11> | Stukeley, W. 28/06/1723. Plan of Newberry and Spinae. Marked 'Speen'. [Map / SWB147333] |
| <12> | Letters, S. 2003-2009. Online Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516. [Website / SWB147588]
http://www.history.ac.uk/cmh/gaz/gazweb2.html (Accessed 25/09/2015) |
| <13> | Berkshire Archaeological Society et al. 1927. BERKS, BUCKS AND OXON ARCH J 1927 VOL 31. 31. In ADS Journals. 10.5284/1000017. p41 in Berkshire Charters. [Article in serial / SWB13434]
http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/berks_bas_2007/journal.cfm?volume=31 (Accessed 27/07/2016) |
| <14> | Dils, J and Yates, M (ed). 2012. An Historical Atlas of Berkshire (2nd Edition). p36-37 Markets of medieval Berkshire by Jeremy Sims. [Monograph / SWB148708] |
| <15> | Tubb, R B. 2002. Speen, Stockcross, Shaw-cum-Donnington Road by Road. [Monograph / SWB13610] |
| <16> | Page and Ditchfield (eds). 1924. Victoria County History (VCH) Berks IV 1924. Vol 4. p97-110. [Monograph / SWB10281]
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol4 (Accessed 24/09/2015) |
Related Monuments
| MWB22416 | Churchyard of St Mary the Virgin Church, Speen (Landscape) |
| MWB18092 | Site of Godwin's Mill, Speen (unknown exact location) (Monument) |
| MWB15856 | Speen Grange, Speen Lane, Speen (Building) |
| MWB15520 | Speen House Earthwork (Monument) |
| MWB19925 | Speen Parish Hall (Building) |
| MWB15470 | SPEEN POUND (Monument) |
| MWB4834 | St Mary the Virgin Church, Speen (Building) |
| MWB4835 | The Lady Well, Speen (Monument) |
| MWB19897 | Thatcham Hundred (Place) |
| MWB3571 | BAGNOR (Place) |
| MWB16432 | Benham (settlement) (Place) |
| MWB3464 | SPEENHAMLAND, Newbury (Place) |
| MWB5405 | SPINIS/SPINAE (Place) |
Associated Excavations and Fieldwork
| EWB1106 | The Coach House, Speen, Newbury, West Berkshire - Archaeological Watching Brief (Ref: Site code CHS09/61) |
| EWB19 | Elmore Abbey, Speen (Ref: Site code EAS 98/1) |
| EWB504 | Elmore Abbey Watching Brief (Ref: W8001) |
| EWB916 | An Archaeological Evaluation on Land adjacent to Sexton's Cottage, Church Lane, Speen, West Berkshire (Ref: Site Code SCS 06) |
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