Speen, Berkshire

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Speen is a small village and civil parish in West Berkshire, England. It sits about 2 miles (3 km) northwest of Newbury and includes Speen village along with nearby hamlets such as Bagnor, Stockcross, Woodspeen, and Marsh Benham. The area is a mix of farmland and wooded land with fields used for hay and pasture.

History and landmarks
Speen has roots dating back to ancient times, with the Ermin Way, a Roman road, passing nearby. The Second Battle of Newbury was fought in the area in 1644. The parish was once home to Speenhamland, known for the outdoor relief system that influenced social welfare debates.

The parish features several notable sites:
- St Mary the Virgin, the parish church, is a late Anglo-Saxon building and the oldest church in Berkshire.
- The Ladywell (lady well) is a historic spring believed by some to have curative properties; it was fenced off in the Victorian era.
- Speen House is a late 18th-century manor built around older foundations, with ramparts nearby.
- Benham Park (Benham Valence Manor) is a Capability Brown–designed landscape garden around a house built in 1775; both the house and park are Grade II* listed, and one pair of gate piers at West Lodge is Grade I listed.

Transport and geography
Speen used to have a railway station on the Lambourn Valley Railway, but the station closed in 1960. The nearest current railway station is Newbury. The A34 runs north–south through the parish, connecting near Newbury with the M4 at Chieveley. Local buses link Speen with Newbury, Lambourn, and Hungerford.

Demography and administration
In 2011, Speen had a population of 2,635 and covered about 14.53 square kilometers (5.61 square miles), giving a population density of around 181 people per square kilometer. The parish lies within the West Berkshire unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Berkshire, in South East England. The post town is Newbury (postcode RG14) and the dialling code is 01635. Police services are provided by Thames Valley Police, fire by Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service, and ambulance by South Central Ambulance Service. The area falls within the Newbury parliamentary constituency. The Ordnance Survey grid reference is SU4568.