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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

• Conservation Area: Speen

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

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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