Chippins
From Lacey Green History
Research by Joan West
Chippins is a house on the west side of Lacey Green Main Road. It is one of the houses built in the 1900's between the two entrances to Church Lane.
Before 1823 it was part of the Common of Princes Risborough. Click Princes Risborough Common to see two maps.
The first map shows the full area of Princes Risborough Common.
The map below that shows the changes made in 1823 when the Enclosures of Princes Risborough took place. The area coloured pale orange denotes Stocken Farm
In 1823 the land on which Chippins was built was allocated to Stocken Farm, then owned by Lord George Henry Cavendish and let to Ann Dell (click Thomas Dell snr & Ann Dell)
However a road was to be constructed cutting through this area which was to become Main Road, Lacey Green
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From the time it was built 'Chippins' was used by RAF personnel of Bomber Command.
Group Captain Reginald Charles Jordan lived at Chippins during WW2. He served from 1941 to his death in Malta in 1943.
In 2013 Geoffrey Jordan (son) wrote "I enclose three photos taken when we lived there in WW2. They show the house and my mother (the tallest of the three) with two neighbours, Mrs Guest and Mrs Cannon (wife of Group Captain 'Bill' Cannon who lived in the identical house the other side of what was the Police Station. I had a tree house in the big chestnut tree (now long gone). The other is of my father Group Captain (Tiny) Jordan, who was killed in Malta in 1943. I think we were the first owners of the house, one of four identical houses built by HJ & A Wright of Great Missenden, bought so I understand for £400. Mother and I left in 1945/6 and sold it to Group Captain Donald Finlay, who was an Olympic 110yds hurdler in 1946 and later C/O RAF Halton. My father and he were great friends and hurdled together for the RAF and in the AAA campionships."
Group Captain Donald Osborne Finlay, after an illustrious career in the RAF and as a champion athlete Don retired in 1959 to Chippins. He had already purchased Chippins in 1945 or 1956 from Mrs Jordan. (click Don & Joanne Finlay for more about Don.)
Personal Note by Joan West. A Motor Accident in 1966 left Don confined to a wheelchair. The family lived in Lacey Green for two or three more years before moving to Hampden.
About 1968/9 Wilfred & Lisa Tagg moved into Chippins from Bradenham Beeches. Wilfred became the treasurer of the Parochial Church Council Their daughter Daphne filled in a questionnaire on Lacey Green School
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