Visit Speen, Berkshire Places

Welcome to Visit Speen, Berkshire Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Speen, Berkshire

  

Speen, Berkshire Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Speen, Berkshire

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Speen, Berkshire history

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Speen has the frequently broken-up footpath marking the Ermin Street/Ermin way, the main Roman road from Cirencester, Gloucestershire to Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester, Hampshire) The English Civil War Second Battle of Newbury was fought at Speen on 27 October 1644.

Speen, Berkshire landmarks

Parish church

The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin is late Saxon. It is the burial place of Giovanni Battista Castiglione (1515–98), Queen Elizabeth I’s Italian tutor and servant, who was given nearby Benham Valence house and park in 1572.

The Ladywell or lady well

Tenuous local tradition says its water is able to cure eye diseases and other ills. Some of the village people have seen an old woman with white hair and wearing a blue rain mac wandering around the grave yard.

Speen House

Speen House is the latest incarnation of Speen manor house, which incorporates a minority of building materials from its 17th century precursor. Early historians have dated a few stones among the foundations to the Roman village of Spinae, but it is more likely that these oldest stones were sourced and hewn for the late medieval manor.

Benham Park

Benham Valence Manor was built by Henry Holland and Capability Brown for William, 6th Baron Craven in 1775. It was later the home of his widow, Elizabeth, and her second husband, the Margrave of Anspach.

Speen, Berkshire geography / climate

Speen has clustered settlements, the largest of which is Speen village (which is contiguous with Newbury) and the others are buffered from the town by the A34 road and named Bagnor, Stockcross, Woodspeen and Marsh Benham. Its other land is an approximately even mixture of woodland and agricultural fields.

You can visit Speen, Berkshire places with Walkfo Speen, Berkshire to hear history at Speen, Berkshire’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Speen, Berkshire has 58 places to visit in our interactive Speen, Berkshire map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Speen, Berkshire, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Speen, Berkshire places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Speen, Berkshire & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 58 audio facts unique to Speen, Berkshire places in an interactive Speen, Berkshire map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Speen, Berkshire Places Map
58 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Speen, Berkshire historic spots	Speen, Berkshire tourist destinations	Speen, Berkshire plaques	Speen, Berkshire geographic features
Walkfo Speen, Berkshire tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Speen, Berkshire

  

Best Speen, Berkshire places to visit

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Speen, Berkshire has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Speen, Berkshire’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Speen, Berkshire’s information audio spots:

Newbury power station Newbury power station supplied electricity to the town of Newbury, Berkshire, from 1905 to 1970. It comprised, at various times, hydro-electric, gas engine and diesel engine powered plant with a maximum output capacity of 2.57 MW.

Phoenix Brewery The Phoenix Brewery (also known as Finns Brewery) was a brewery run by the Finns family in Newbury, Berkshire, UK.

Newbury Town Hall Newbury Town Hall is a municipal building in the Market Place in Newbury, Berkshire, England. The building is a Grade II listed building.

Parkway Newbury Parkway Newbury is a retail and residential development in Newbury, Berkshire. Includes 475,000 sq ft (44,000 m) of retail and restaurant accommodation and Marks & Spencer.

Shaw, Berkshire Shaw is located to the north of Newbury, near the village of Donnington. It is in the parish of Shaw-cum-Donnington.

Shaw House, Berkshire Shaw House is an important example of an early symmetrical H-plan Elizabethan mansion, located at Shaw, on the north-eastern outskirts of Newbury in Berkshire.

Donnington Friary Donnington Friary was a friary of crouched friars at Donnington in Berkshire. At the time of suppression the establishment was recorded as Trinitarian, but this was later corrected to Crossed Friars.

Donnington Castle Donnington Castle was founded by Sir Richard Abberbury the Elder in 1386. During the First English Civil War the castle was held by the royalist Sir John Boys and withstood an 18-month siege. Parliament voted to demolish the castle in 1646 and only the gatehouse survives.

Rack Marsh Rack Marsh is a 4-hectare (9.9-acre) nature reserve in Bagnor, on the north-western outskirts of Newbury in Berkshire. It is managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust.

Benham Park Benham Park is 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Newbury within 500m of a junction of the A34 trunk road Newbury by-pass outside the town side. The house is a Grade II* listed building and park is Grade II.

Visit Speen, Berkshire plaques