Speenhamland is an suburb of Newbury, Berkshire.
Speenhamland is an suburb of Newbury, Berkshire.
Its name is probably derived from Old English Spen-haema-land, "land of the inhabitants of Speen", with "Speen" perhaps being formed on a Brittonic root deriving from Latin spinis, "thorns". [1]
Speenhamland was a tithing, or administrative subdivision, of the parish of Speen, though even in the early 19th century it was contiguous with the suburbs of Newbury. [2] It lies to the north of the River Kennet, between the centre of Newbury and Speen village to the north-west. [3]
The Speenhamland system of poor relief was devised at a meeting in the area in 1795. It set poor-relief rates by the bread price and the number of household members, in or out of work. [4] [5]
Berkshire, officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London to the east, Surrey to the south-east, Hampshire to the south, and Wiltshire to the west. Reading is the largest settlement and the county town.
Newbury is a market town in West Berkshire, England, in the valley of the River Kennet. It is 26 miles (42 km) south of Oxford, 25 miles (40 km) north of Winchester, 27 miles (43 km) southeast of Swindon and 20 miles (32 km) west of Reading. It is also where West Berkshire Council is headquartered.
The Speenhamland system was a form of outdoor relief intended to mitigate rural poverty in England and Wales at the end of the 18th century and during the early 19th century. The law was an amendment to the Elizabethan Poor Law. It was created as an indirect result of Britain's involvements in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1793–1815).
Speen is a village and civil parish in West Berkshire, England. Centred 2 miles (3 km) north west of the largest town in the district, Newbury, Speen has clustered settlements, the largest of which is Speen village, which is contiguous with Newbury, and the others, buffered from the town by the A34 road, are Bagnor, Stockcross, Woodspeen and Marsh Benham. Its other land is an approximately even mixture of woodland and agricultural fields including hay meadows for livestock feed and pasture. The area varies greatly in elevation, having the Reading to Taunton Line alongside the north bank of the River Kennet as its southern boundary and both banks of the River Lambourn in its north with elevated ground in between. Benham Park in the south-west of the area is a listed landscape garden and house.
Boarstall is a village and civil parish in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, about 12 miles (19 km) west of Aylesbury. The parish is on the county boundary with Oxfordshire and the village is about 5.5 miles (9 km) southeast of the Oxfordshire market town of Bicester.
The Swing Riots were a widespread uprising in 1830 by agricultural workers in southern and eastern England in protest of agricultural mechanisation and harsh working conditions. The riots began with the destruction of threshing machines in the Elham Valley area of East Kent in the summer of 1830 and by early December had spread through the whole of southern England and East Anglia. It was to be the largest movement of social unrest in 19th-century England.
Bagnor is a village close to the town of Newbury in the English county of Berkshire and situated on the banks of the River Lambourn. At the 2011 census the population was included in the civil parish of Speen. It is best known as the home of the Watermill Theatre.
The Second Battle of Newbury was a battle of the First English Civil War fought on 27 October 1644, in Speen, adjoining Newbury in Berkshire. The battle was fought close to the site of the First Battle of Newbury, which took place in late September the previous year.
Newbury is a constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, located in the English county of Berkshire. It was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 and has been in continual existence since then. It has been represented by Lee Dillon of the Liberal Democrats since 2024.
Brightwalton is a village and civil parish in the Berkshire Downs centred 7 miles (11 km) NNW of Newbury in West Berkshire.
Marsh Benham is a village in the civil parish of Speen in the county of Berkshire, England. It is situated in the unitary authority of West Berkshire, just west of Newbury.
Cholsey is a village and civil parish immediately south of Wallingford in South Oxfordshire. Its population in 2011 was 3,457. 2011 Census. Its parish boundary, some 17 miles (27 km) long, reaches from the edge of Wallingford into the Berkshire Downs. The village green called "The Forty" has a substantial and ancient walnut tree.
James Pettit Andrews was an English historian and antiquary.
In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of helping the poor. Alongside ever-changing attitudes towards poverty, many methods have been attempted to answer these questions. Since the early 16th century legislation on poverty enacted by the Parliament of England, poor relief has developed from being little more than a systematic means of punishment into a complex system of government-funded support and protection, especially following the creation in the 1940s of the welfare state.
Benham Park is a mansion in the English ceremonial county of Berkshire and district of West Berkshire. It is 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Newbury within 500m of a junction of the A34 trunk road Newbury bypass outside the town side, in the Marsh Benham locality of Speen, a village within and outside the Newbury bypass. The house is a Grade II* listed building and park is Grade II.
Sandleford is a hamlet and former civil parish, now in the parish of Greenham, in the West Berkshire district, in the ceremonial county of Berkshire, England. It is located approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south of the town of Newbury.
Richard de Camville was an English crusader knight, and one of Richard the Lionheart's senior commanders during the Third Crusade. In June 1190, at Chinon, he was, with three others, put in charge of King Richard's fleet sailing for the Holy Land. In 1191, he was appointed governor of Cyprus, jointly with Robert of Thornham. He died later in the same year at the Siege of Acre.
Culgaith is a village and civil parish in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, north west England. The village is on a ridge above the River Eden, between Temple Sowerby and Langwathby. At the 2001 census the parish had a population of 721, increasing to 826 at the 2011 Census.
Newbury Rural District was a rural district in Berkshire, England from 1894 to 1974, covering an area in the south-west of the county which almost surrounded but did not include the town of Newbury.
51°24′25″N1°19′30″W / 51.407°N 1.325°W
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