Kiln Lane
From Lacey Green History
research by Joan West.
Kiln Lane began as a track to village ponds. Subsequently cottages built had to give a right of way to the ponds and other land beyond. It was recognised officially as a road in 1823 although it was not tarmacked until the 1930's
For Ian Kelloway's article on the prehistory click Pre-History of Lacey Green
There were many houses in KIln Lane before 1986. read Deninis Clayon's "Tarmac and Beyond" below for those.
In Hallmark March 1986 a Planning Application was made for the Erection of two new cottages in Kiln Lane.
In 2023 Dennis Claydon published a booklet called "Tarmac and Beyond". Much was known about Kiln Lane, but Dennis Claydon researched and wrote about it so brilliantly that the history of the lane written here will include extracts from his booklet leaving nothing out. A few later facts have been added.
Rosemary Mortham wrote the following introduction, dated February 2003 : -
"The coming of the year 2000 was celebrated in Kiln Lane with the burying of a time capsule in the garden of 'Pondside'; also a most enjoyable "Millennium" Party, held in midsummer rather than New Year's Day, in the hope of enjoying good weather. We were indeed blessed by a beautiful day. Everyone was out bright and early for a shared lunch in the field next to "Highwood", which had been kindly loaned for the occasion by Dennis Claydon.
The highlight of the day was a walk down our Lane, led by Dennis. We were fascinated by the stories which he told, and amazed by the amount of information which he had amassed about one small lane. It was generally felt that this should be recorded for future generations, and after some nagging by me, Dennis agreed to give it a try. A good deal of further research led to the production of this small book. Co-incidentally, it would appear that the area of Kiln Lane can be traced back for at least the 2000 years that brought about this production.
-
The story of Kiln Lane is told here with information from "Tarmac and Beyond" by Denis Claydon
Chapter 1. Grim’s Ditch
The village of Lacey Green, south-east of Princes Risborough in Buckinghamshire, is situated high in the Chiltern Hills, overlooking the Vale of Aylesbury. Kiln Lane lies towards the south-eastern outskirts of the village. From its junction with Main Road, this unpretentious lane heads north-eastwards, soon leaving the confines of the village, thence curving down into a deep narrow valley and continuing eastwards, towards Speen.
Undoubtedly, the oldest feature of Kiln Lane is Grim's Ditch, an ancient earthwork, consisting of an earthen bank and ditch. The name is derived from folklore, which attributed any mysterious earthwork to the Devil, sometimes known as Grim, hence Grim's Ditch.
For the full chapter given in "Tarmac and Beyond" click Grim's Ditch.
Chapter 2. The Brick Makers of ‘Lacey's Green’
From the dim mists of pre-history, a giant leap forward in time, to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. From this period documents and maps first make reference to ‘Lacies Green’, ‘Leasey Green’ and ‘Lacey’s Green’. It is reasonable to assume therefore that the first foundations of the community were being laid at this time.
For the full chapter given in "Tarmac and Beyond" click Brick Making in Kiln Lane.
Chapter 3. The Enclosures in Princes Risborough.
Common land, in medieval times, provided rights for the peasants. These rights included the removal of wood and stones, grazing of stock and the gathering of fallen fruit. During the twelfth century, lords of the manor began to claim direct ownership of such ground. From the thirteenth century, areas were fenced off in a trend known as enclosure. This practice rapidly escalated during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
The survey and valuations of 1808-1810 were probably consulted and taken into account, the proposal to seek the Enclosure of the Parish of Princes Risborough was first suggested. Following the Royal Assent to the Bill in 1820, another three years were to elapse before the matter finally become reality.
For the full chapter given in "Tarmac and Beyond", click Enclosures campaign where Dennis reports on the local uproar when this was proposed.
Chapter 4. "Kiln Lane at the Enclosure", from Tarmac and Beyond. Despite the turmoil and emotional upset of the Enclosure, plus the devastating effect on certain individuals, the original document held in the County Record Office makes interesting reading. It records landownership by numbered plots, public and private roads, public footways and bridleways, and public ponds. This document provides the modern local historian with a wealth of information.
The Commissioners nominated and appointed to oversee the Enclosure were William Collisson of Brackley, Northamptonshire, Edward Horwood of Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire, and Charles Smith of New Windsor, Berkshire. Their task would keep them occupied for a further three years, until the Enclosure was finally concluded on the thirteenth of March 1823.
Kiln Lane can readily be identified from the Enclosure Award Map, described as a ‘public Bridleway of the breadth of twelve feet’. It leads ‘from the new Lacey Green Road at the south-west corner of an allotment to John Grubb Esq., over the south side of the same allotment to the gate leading into High Wood, thence along the north-west side of the same wood to the Parish of Monks Risborough near Iron Beech Kiln’. This, in fact, includes part of the present day Bridleway L21, running towards Lily Bottom.
All the land bordering the northern edge of Kiln Lane was in the ownership of John Grubb. This land, apart from a small area now bounded by Main Road, Idle Corner, the Village Hall and Roundlands, extended eastwards, and northwards as far as The Windmill. It consisted of over one hundred acres, in a series of large fields, which Grubb had purchased from the Commissioners. The Windmill, at this time, was considered to be in Loosley Row.
Along the southern boundary of Kiln Lane, land was divided between two owners, Lord Cavendish and Grubb. Cavendish held one hundred and seventeen acres, comprising ‘Stockings Farm’ (Stocken Farm) in the tenancy of Ann Dell. Grubb had been successful in his claim for the Brick Kiln. He had thus been awarded ‘Plot 729°, comprising ‘Brick-kiln Cottage and Inclosures’, totalling a little over four acres. This area was termed as ‘Old Inclosures’, suggesting they had been enclosed in earlier times. ‘Brick-kiln Cottage’ was in fact ‘Malmsmead’, the only dwelling in Kiln Lane at this time.
Chapter 5. Public Ponds In hilltop settlements of the Chilterns, a long-standing problem for many generations was the supply of water for cattle and domestic purposes. In long dry summers areas were prone to periods of severe drought. If a community lacked a Parish Well, the only means of supply was water collected from cottage rooftops, stored in underground tanks, or from ponds. A shortage of water at Stokenchurch in the late 1860’s, during a period of drought, caused beer to be cheaper than water!
The Enclosure, maybe recognising the problems, made provision for nine Public Ponds within the Parish, (then the Parish of Princes Risborough). One of these was in Longwick, whilst the other eight, perhaps predictably, were in Lacey Green. Loosley Row was fortunate in that it possessed a Parish Well, whilst Speen, on the other hand, seemed to manage without either, possibly being able to survive by using private ponds
Two of these public ponds are situated in Kiln Lane. The smaller of the two lies at the western end of Kiln Lane and is known as Whitewashing Pond. It is described in the Enclosure Award as a ‘public pond or watering place... in an allotment of the said John Grubb containing eighteen perches with a road thereto of the breadth of twenty feet from the new Lacey Green Road, including the Public Bridleway No. 1’.
The second pond is situate a few metres to the north-east and is known as Deep Pit Pond. It bears a similar description in the Enclosure Award as Whitewashing, being in the “same Allotment near the Brick Kiln...containing twenty four perches’.
For the full stories of these ponds in Kiln Lane click Deep Pit Pond and Whitewashing Pond
Chapter 6. "Malmsmead"
At the time of the Enclosure, ‘Malmsmead’ was the only dwelling in Kiln Lane. Even at this stage the building was a mature one, reputedly dating from the seventeenth century. Over the course of time the dwelling has varied between being one main residence or two cottages. It is, today, composed of two cottages, ‘Malmsmead’ and ‘Walnut Cottage’, which together form one of the seven listed buildings of special architectural or historic interest in Lacey Green.
For the complete stories of these two cottages click Malmsmead and Walnut Cottage. Also click 1913 Smithson and Sikes, burglars, whose exploits are told in Chapter 7.
Chapter 7. ‘Smithson and Sikes’
The year 1913 proved to be an eventful one, both nationally and locally. It was the third year of King George V’s reign and Herbert Asquith, the last Prime Minister to preside over an exclusively Liberal government, had been in power for five years. The burning issue of the day was ‘Votes for Women’. During the spring, Emmeline Pankhurst, the leader of the campaign, was jailed for three years. A drama occurred in the summer, when thirty-eight year old Emily Davidson, another campaigner, ran onto the track at the Epsom Derby and seized the reins of King George V’s horse. She received fatal injuries when the horse trampled her. Locally, the Organ in Penn Parish Church and Saunderton Railway Station became victims of arson attacks to draw attention to the cause. Saunderton Station was to figure largely in the news for another reason before the year was through.
In Kiln Lane, the two young tenants of ‘Malmsmead’ were beginning to establish themselves. William Weatherill, aged twenty-two years, and Alfred Tragheim, aged twenty-one years, had viewed the property and considered it would be ideal for their needs. The new tenants readily agreed with the owner, Mrs. Hyde, who wished to let the property as furnished accommodation, to retain the gardener and housekeeper, so that the house and grounds might be cared for in a proper manner. To allay any anxiety that Mrs. Hyde may have had in letting to persons of such tender years, three months rent was paid in advance.
These two polite, fashionable and smartly dressed young men purported to be medical students whose work frequently took them to London. To reach the Station from Lacey Green involved a two and a half mile walk.
This picture of two high-class medical students, could not, in fact, have been farther from the truth. These young gentlemen had set up their headquarters in Kiln Lane, the nerve centre of operations for ‘Smithson and Sikes’, expert burglars and housebreakers. Weatherill and Tragheim had served Borstal sentences and both had just been released prior to their arrival in Lacey Green.
For the full story of their exploits click 1913 Smithson and Sikes, burglars
Chapter 8. The Nineteenth Century.
It was during the nineteenth century that ‘Malmsmead’, after standing alone for possibly two hundred years, began to be joined by other dwellings in Kiln Lane.
Certainly by 1875, but probably much earlier, the two timbered cottages next door to ‘Malmsmead’ were in existence. These small cottages, of the ‘two up, two down’ type, seemed to have housed large families, even well into the twentieth century. Amongst the families resident at various times were the Smith’s, Hussey’s, Baker’s, Rixon’s and Claydon’s. The late Harry Floyd, a native of Lacey Green, was born at the beginning of the twentieth century and in his latter days became a resident of Kiln Lane. In his youth he could recall the two cottages being occupied by a total of at least twenty people. As he remarked, speaking at the end of the twentieth century, that by contrast, the building has since been enlarged, converted into one dwelling and now houses only two persons!
One house, which could be accessed from Idle Corner or Kiln Lane, was ‘Hets Loo’. Initially a small cottage, dating from the late eighteenth century, the only means of access was via Idle Corner. However, various owners, over the years, have extended the property. Also, a sizeable amount of land has been purchased to extend the garden and create an orchard, allowing an entrance to be made from Kiln Lane.
There was a tradition, handed down by word of mouth, that the original cottage was the oldest building in the village, but no evidence has yet been found to substantiate this claim. During the early years of the twentieth century members of the De Beer family, famous for their diamond mining, occupied the property. The family, of Dutch origin, probably named the house ‘Hets Loo’, either after the Royal residence of that name in the Netherlands or from their estates in South Africa.
Now another entrance drive from Kiln Lane, immediately adjacent to the Main Road, followed the present course of the private drive into “Hets Orchard’. At the entrance stood two brick piers, supporting wooden gates, which had been produced from ship’s timbers. A very small plaque recorded the ship’s name and its home port of Bristol.
A tall hedge surrounded the land facing Main Road. In springtime the Orchard was a mass of daffodils. A ‘wartime’ baby of the Second World War was evacuated from Essex to Kiln Lane. In the years following, as a very young girl, holidays were spent in Kiln Lane. One lasting memory of that time are the daffodils in the orchard of ‘Hets Loo’. The house was demolished in the early 1970’s to make way for a development of six properties, known as ‘Hets Orchard’, with access onto Kiln Lane.
Lime Tree Cottages, two semi-detached dwellings, erected in the traditional ‘brick and flint’ of the Chilterns, date from the latter end of the nineteenth century. They were originally in the ownership of the Ward family of Loosley Row. Both properties later passed into the Currell family. Free Currell and his wife, Elizabeth Jane, occupied one cottage. Their son, William John Currell, aged twenty years, a Private in the 2nd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, gave his life for his Country on 30" July 1917. Their daughter, Elsie Mabel, continued to live in the cottage for the whole of her eighty-two years.
Next door was George Currell and his wife, Mary. Both were ardent supporters of Lacey Green Methodist Church. They too, had a son, Charlie Currell, aged thirty-one, a Private in 2/1" Bucks Battalion, Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry, who was killed in action on 2™ April 1917. Mary was amongst the ladies of the village who pursued the art of Buckinghamshire lace making. George kept ducks, which found their way into Whitewashing Pond, at the end of the garden.
Another cottage of similar vintage to Lime Tree Cottages lies to the north-east, a little farther down the Lane. Towards the end of the nineteenth century ‘Kiln Hill Cottage’ was in the ownership of a Mrs Buckmaster, the mortgagee of John Cheshire of Windmill Farm. From eyewitness reports, by the early years of the twentieth century ‘Kiln Hill Cottage’ had fallen into disrepair and become semi-derelict. Horses from the neighbouring field were said to enter looking for shelter, and the 1901 Census listed it as “Not in occupation’. It was following this period that the cottage came into the hands of Frederick Rogers, who restored the property. By word of mouth Frederick Rogers is said to have been a ‘builder’. However, the 1901 Census records a Frederick Rogers, described as a bricklayer, with his wife and seven month old baby daughter, lodging at ‘The Whip’.
Almost half a century ago, when yet more new owners were once again restoring the property, they made a surprising discovery. Removing wallpaper from an interior wall it was discovered a doorway had been covered over at sometime in the past. In fact, the door was still intact and contained a pencilled message to the new owners! The message read:
‘To the persons who takes this door down. This house was built by Mr Oakley about forty-five years ago he was a shoe make this was is shop. Afterwards it came into the Cheshire family (or Buckmaster) then a Mrs Sheldon of Risboro brought it. Then I bought it (F. Rogers £93) built the room out, put in a bay window, put in boarded floors, put in a new grate. Built skullery and shop, planted apple trees, planted hedge, fixed gass. I am 33 years old. I might be gone on before when you read this. JS dated Feb 1910.
If you are not saved do get right with God at once for life is uncertain and death is sure. Friend
God bless you
F Rogers”’
The door, of boarded construction, had been painted or varnished. After so many years the surface had begun to chip, making some of the lettering difficult to read. However, the above is a reasonably accurate transcription.
Unfortunately, Frederick Rogers omitted to record the date he purchased the property or when the message was written on the hidden door. However, research reveals that he died in 1952, at the age of seventy-three, and is buried in the Lacey Green Methodist Cemetery. This would suggest his birth was about 1879, yet the Census records him as twenty-four years of age in 1901.
If this were correct his birth would have been in 1877. f the message was therefore written at thirty-three years of age, then the year would have been 1910, or thereabouts. The message states the property was built ‘about forty-five years ago’, which would thus date the building back to around 1865. The Valuation Survey of 1910 records Frederick Rogers as the owner of the property, but James Lacey was in occupation as a tenant at that time. This fact may account for the strange statement above, ‘JS dated Feb 1910’. In the old fashioned handwriting, an ‘S’ could well be mistaken for an “L’. Exactly what this statement is meant to convey must remain a mystery!
As one progresses north-eastward down Kiln Lane the tarmacadam surface ceases, giving way to an unmade surface. This gravel section extends for a very short distance, before two public footpaths cross it, one leading north-westward to Goodacres Lane, the other south-eastward, to Turnip End and Speen. To the inhabitants of Kiln Lane, half a century or more ago, this crossing point marked the end of Kiln Lane. Beyond this point the road narrows considerably and was always referred to as the ‘horse road’ or ‘cart road’, marking the beginning of Highwood Bottom. Officially today, White House Farm and Kingswood House are situated in Kiln Lane, but evidence suggests this was not always so.
Trade Directories of the nineteenth and twentieth century refer to the inhabitants of Sunnybank Farm, (now White House Farm) as residing in ‘Highwood Bottom, Speen’. Likewise, however, the same directories list Kingswood Farm, (now Kingswood House) as Lacey Green! The problem was compounded in the 1970’s when the Parish Council were obliged to erect name plates to every road in the Parish. A shortage of cash led to a shortage of signs, Kiln Lane at this time being ‘extended’ to reach as far as Kingswood farmhouse.
Chapter 9. The ‘Bypass’
Once the road crosses the aforementioned footpaths, it curves sharply and steeply, down into a steep sided narrow valley. At the entrance to White House Farm the road continues along the valley floor, running roughly eastwards, towards the village of Speen. This section, from White House Farm onwards, represents the last remaining section of an important ancient road. Certainly in use during the 18" century, it once formed part of what is now a ‘lost’ highway, the main road from Speen to Princes Risborough, bypassing Lacey Green.
The remaining section of this road runs along the valley floor, emerging onto the modern day road to Speen at Flowers Bottom, causing a ‘hair pin bend’, known locally as the ‘Devil’s Elbow’. This is a fine example of the creation of a ‘hair pin bend’, the old road being abandoned, whilst a new route turns sharply away, via Flowers Bottom and Darvills Hill, to Lacey Green.
According to the Land Survey of Princes Risborough Parish, mentioned earlier, produced in 1810, much of this section of road was once surrounded by woodland. Proceeding down the steep road from Speen, woodland existed to the west, known as Darvills Hill Wood. On reaching the valley floor, High Wood, also known as King’s Wood, existed to the east and north of the road, extending as far as the eastern boundary of the present day Public Bridleway L21.
From the point adjacent to White House Farm the course of the road, now lost, once headed roughly north-westwards, to the present day site of Widmer Farm. Crossing what is now Pink Road, the track curved slightly northwards to emerge into Little Wardrobes Lane, thence by Brimmers Farm Lane to Princes Risborough. Evidence of this road branching off from Wardrobes Lane may still be seen, sadly however, it is no longer a public right of way.
Over the centuries the course of this ‘bypass’ changed several times. Following the demise of the route into Wardrobes Lane, a new way was established which passed to the rear of The Windmill, crossing the fields to connect with the present road at White House Farm. When this route, in turn, became redundant, a road, following approximately the line of Goodacres Lane, then crossing the fields to White House F arm, was made. These alternative routes have also long disappeared, leaving this section from White House Farm to the ‘Devil’s Elbow’ at Flowers Bottom as the only portion of the ‘lost’ road to survive. The present course of the road, curving steeply up from White House Farm into the village of Lacey Green, via Kiln Lane, appears to have only come into being around one hundred and fifty years ago.
Chapter 10. White House Farm
From 1849 to 1855 the site of White House Farm (formerly Sunnybank Farm) and surrounding land were under an ever-changing succession of owners. These gentlemen were, or represented the Mortgagees of the Duke of Buckingham, a one time local landowner, who were trying to recoup some of their losses.
In 1853 there was an auction of seventy plots of land in Speen, some of which were purchased by Sir William Foster (Bart) of Norwich. Some of this land consisted of woodland, which under the terms of the sale, had to be cleared of timber by a certain date. It seems likely that Sir William had plans to sell off much of this land, into smaller plots for development and create new roads.
He sold six acres to John Janes, a Sawyer of Loosley Row, in June of 1855, for the sum of £108. The plot was bordered on the west by an ‘‘intended new road’’, the present day Public Bridleway L21. To the north and west the land was bounded by other property of Sir William’s and on the south ‘“by a road lately set out leading from Speen to Lacey Green’’. Other nearby land belonged to Charles Brown of Stocken Farm, Lacey Green.
Presumably John Janes arranged for the erection of a house and outbuildings, possibly changing his occupation from Sawyer to that of Farmer. Following the Conveyance of freehold purchase, John was freed from copyhold right to timber for members of the Manor.
For ninety-three years the property was to remain in the Janes family. On the death of John, the property was inherited by his wife, Elizabeth, followed by daughter, Caroline, who had married a cousin, Boaz Janes. In September 1892 Caroline and Boaz renewed a Mortgage on two plots of land, one plot comprising six acres, a house, barn and outbuildings known as Sunnybank Farm.
Boaz managed to make a living from a few milking cows, rearing calves, poultry and the produce of an orchard, although he was also known to have been a Benchman in the chair making trade. One of the highlights of his year was his annual visit to Royal Ascot. Caroline, who was probably ‘financial administrator’, did not wholly approve of this annual outing. However, a neatly dressed figure was always visible during Ascot week, making his way on foot to Princes Risborough Station, enroute to the Races.
Caroline and Boaz had a large family, the eldest of whom was daughter Mabel, born in 1887. As a small child, Mabel could recall observing men removing stumps and roots of trees from land adjacent to her home, the last remnants from the site of the former woodland. In October 1904 Mabel commenced teaching at Lacey Green Church of England School, a position she was to occupy until her retirement in 1947. During this time generations of village boys and girls passed through her class, many of whom still remember her with mixed emotions.
An incident, involving Mabel, occurred in Kiln Lane during the dark days of the Second World War. Returning home one evening as the light was failing, she witnessed a number of aircraft dropping personnel by parachute. These men were landing in the field to the north-west of her home. As the aircraft droned away into the distance, Mabel felt very uncertain what course of action to take, not knowing if the parachutists were ‘friend’ or ‘foe’.
Feeling disinclined to venture down the narrow lane to her house on her own, she went to a nearby neighbour to seek assistance. In due course it was established that the parachutists were American troops, who were obviously not where they were intended to be.
Mabel, a single lady, was to have a long retirement following her departure from schoolwork. She died in 1987, just days short of her one-hundredth birthday.
In 1948, following the long ‘reign’ of the Janes family, Doris Oliver, wife of Andrew Oliver, purchased the property. A leading authority on marquetry, Andrew was the Works Manager of a Company in High Wycombe specialising in this craft. The Oliver’s, with their young family, remained at Sunnybank Farm for two years, before moving into Church Lane, Lacey Green. Ironically, in later years, they moved back to Kiln Lane, which is still the family home.
The next purchaser of the property was Margaret Haynes-Dixon, perhaps better known as the authoress Rumer Godden. A prolific and successful writer of novels, poetry and children’s works, several of her novels being made into films. Amongst her best known works is ‘Black Narcissus’, much of which was written whilst she was resident at Sunnybank Farm.
Following the departure, in 1952, of the lady with a distinguished literary career, the next purchaser was a gentleman with a distinguished military career, Major General Sir Colin Gubbins and his wife, Lady Anna. Sunnybank Farm, which became White House Farm around this time, was to be the ‘hideaway’ retirement home of Sir Colin, where he kept a low profile.
In the early days of the Second World War, Sir Colin established the secret underground resistance movement in Britain, poised to act in the event of a Germany invasion. Later, acting as Director of Operations and Training at Special Operations Executive, he was given full responsibility for secret missions to Western Europe. Finally, in 1943, he was appointed head of Special Operations Executive.
There are rumours, which sadly cannot be confirmed, that Kiln Lane and White House Farm in particular, has been honoured by two royal visits. During a bout of illness Sir Colin reputedly received a private visit from Her Majesty, the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.
A later owner of White House Farm, who kept horses, claimed a visit was made by the Princess Royal, Princess Anne, to negotiate the possible purchase of a horse. From the various sources of these rumours it is envisaged the former is probably true, whilst the latter is somewhat questionable.
Sir Colin and Lady Anna enjoyed the delights of this idyllic, but isolated abode for several years. Following Sir Colin's death, Lady Anna remained at White House Farm until 1975, before leaving the district.
Several more owners followed the demise of the Gubbin’s. Over the course of the years, with each successive owner, the property has been enlarged, extended and modify, until it is now unrecognisable as the small brick and flint cottage, with timbered outbuildings, established by John Janes in 1855.
11.
Kingswood House
Research has failed to establish with any degree of certainty the original owners of Kingswood House, (formerly Kingswood Farm). However, there is no doubt that Kingswood Farm, consisting of some fifty acres, was built around the same time as its near neighbour, Sunnybank Farm, in 1855.
The Farmhouse is constructed of brick and flint. Formerly, a short distance to the east of the dwelling, stood a range of farm buildings, consisting of stables, barn and milking parlour, arranged around a yard. These buildings have all but disappeared, only the shell of the milking parlour remaining. An internal beam of the barn had the date ‘1855’ carved upon it, followed with an inscription, ‘Ward, Carpenters, Speen’.
Sir William Foster’s original intention may have been to sell off smaller plots of land, however, if an opportunity arose to sell off a larger area, then the chance was probably seized upon. It is known that in 1877 the property was in the possession of *...Thomas Rogers Parsons of White Leafe, in the Parish of Monks Risborough and County of Bucks, Gentleman’. It is possible that he was the original purchaser of the land from Sir William and the builder of Kingswood Farm, but as yet, no confirmation of this has been found. Thomas Rogers Parsons, described as a most public-spirited man, came to Princes Risborough around 1840, where, with his son, Thomas Parsons Junior, he founded the ‘Lion’ brewery.
In fact, Thomas Rogers Parsons owned Kingswood Farm and Speen Kiln Farm (now Red House Farm), both of which are described as being in Speen. On 6" January 1877 Parsons agreed to sell both farms to William Simmons Witney of Redland End, Timber Dealer and Farmer, for the sum of £6750, with an immediate deposit of £500 on account. It was further agreed if default was made in the completion of the purchase, or interest not paid, the deposit was to be forfeited. In such a case it would be lawful for Parsons and his servants ‘...to enter...and occupy...as if this Agreement had never been made’.
The pair also agreed that Witney should take the entire Live and Dead Stock and Fixtures of the two farms at a valuation to be made by a mutually agreed Valuer, whose decision was to be final. On 11" January 1877 this valuation was carried out, the Stock being assessed at £1640.10s.0d, a sum paid by Witney to Parsons on 3rd February 1877 and duly receipted. The foregoing Agreement regarding default was probably the standard practice of the day. Thomas Rogers Parsons died in 1878, the year following these Agreements.
Two interesting and perhaps unexpected items appear in the Inventory for the Valuation; ‘Three clamps of London sweepings’ and “Three hundred loads of stones’. The former presumably for manure, the latter certainly for road making purposes in the Parish and County.
Kingswood Farm has long been, and still is, renowned for its ‘crop’ of stones. The amount of stone on the land is such, that it has been known to damage even modern machinery when cultivation is taking place. This plentiful supply of raw material was once sold to the Highway Authorities, thus providing an excellent source of income. Women and children were employed to pick up the flints, payment being around one penny per cubic yard.
The maintenance of roads was raised at a Vestry Meeting in Princes Risborough in 1889. The Highways Committee of the County Council was requested to take over the road ‘from Waters (sic) Ash and Speen (i.e. through Lacey Green) to where it joins the main road at Wood Way, Culverton Hill....”. The reason for this request was ‘in consideration of its being very extensively used for the carting of flints to maintain the main roads in the Parish of Princes Risborough and other parishes, where they have no material of their own....’
William Simmons Witney was born in the late 1820’s in Chinnor, Oxfordshire. He married Mary Ann Shrimpton and they had ten children. The family resided at Redland End, where William was the Landlord of ‘The Pheasant’, but also carried on trade as a Timber Dealer and Farmer.
Despite the purchase of the two farms William continued his timber dealing. In 1883 he organised a trading mission to America. He is said to have sent a message from America for his wife and family to join him, but this she refused to do. William failed to turn up to a prearranged meeting in America with his oldest son, George, and was never heard of again. The mystery of William’s disappearance was never resolved. His wife moved from Buckinghamshire to Bethnal Green, London where she kept a boarding house.
The strange twist to this story is that the Witney family could not lay claim to the Farms, possibly because there was still money owing on the properties, thus the above Agreement came into force. However, this is by no means certain.
Descendants have a notion the properties passed into Chancery, with the option for the family to reclaim the properties after one hundred years, but this opportunity was never explored.
Whatever the reason for the Witney saga, Kingswood Farm passed into the hands of other owners. One of these was William Saunders, who was also the owner of other local farms. During his time of occupancy early in the twentieth century, a freak thunderstorm occurred during one night. Such was the severity of the storm it was claimed the brightness of the lightening enabled the reading of a newspaper. The storm caused a build-up of water in the valley to the north of the farm. The force of the water was such that an iron pig trough was carried, some hundred yards, from the yard at the rear of the barn, through the barn, into the road below.
A similar incident occurred in 1991, again as a result of a very heavy storm. Water accumulated at the head of the valley to the north west of White House Farm. This caused a torrent to flow across the fields, removing earth to a depth of eighteen inches. Following the course of the valley, the water, some six inches in depth, cascaded down the road, passing Kingswood House, flowing on into Highwood Bottom and Flowers Bottom.
Another colourful character and owner in the early twentieth century was George Hawes. He and his wife raised a large family at Kingswood Farm. George, like so many of his generation, was multi-talented, being a chair back maker, farmer and builder. He acquired another piece of land in Lacey Green whereon he built a farmhouse, Woodbine Farm, now replaced, running the two farms in tandem for a time.
The stamina of such characters is amazing, for George was known to mow half an acre of grass with a scythe, before breakfast. He played the euphonium and was a member of Speen Brass Band. There is a story that he had an appointment to attend Stokenchurch Fair one afternoon, an annual arrangement, possibly with the Band. Transport had been arranged, leaving around mid-day. However, at the appointed time George was busy and missed his transport. Nevertheless, he set off and walked the ten or so miles to Stokenchurch in order to honour the appointment. He later purchased one of the first ‘Model T’ Ford’s, making him one of the earliest car owners in Lacey Green.
Other owners include the Drayson’s, during World War II. Following them were the Tuckett’s, who employed a manager to run the Farm, whilst the ‘breadwinner’ of the family worked for the B.B.C. During the time of their stay, the Old Berkeley Hunt met at R. A. F. Officers’ Mess, Walters Ash, a most unusual occurrence in this area. In the late afternoon of a winter’s day, the hounds picked up the scent of a fox near Small Dean Farm, chasing it to Promised Land Farm, Lacey Green. Continuing on, the fox crossed the main road in Lacey Green, into Goodacres Lane, then turning eastward, headed down the valley towards Speen, with the hounds pursuing in full cry. At Kingswood Farm, the Jersey herd was coming in for afternoon milking. The fox cleverly took advantage of this situation and ran through the herd, thus cutting off his scent from his pursuers. Amongst a great deal of confusion between hounds and huntsmen alike, the fox escaped.
The last farmer to run the Farm as a unit was Allen-Armitage. This he did single-handed, working long hours, keeping a Jersey herd for milk production. At milking time classical music could be heard wafting from the milking parlour. Perhaps this was to help the drudgery of the task in hand, but it was also claimed the cows enjoyed the music and thus their yield was higher. Cultivation work would often take place in the evenings, when he would labour, working by headlights, late into the night on his tractor. In September 1963 the Farm was sold to R. M. West and Son of Stocken Farm, Lacey Green. They still retain the land and buildings, but subsequently sold off the Farmhouse as a private residence.
During the Spring and Summer of 2002 a trial excavation was made on land adjacent to ‘Kiln Barn’. The object of the exercise was to try and establish the possibly course of Grim’s Ditch. Reputedly, this was the first excavation of the Earthwork ever to have been undertaken in Buckinghamshire.
Towards the south-eastern boundary of the plot the Ditch was ‘discovered’, aligning roughly with the closest extant sections to the north-east.
The photograph to the left clearly illustrates the geological makeup of the Ditch. The dark strip of topsoil overlays a deep seam of clay, ‘backfill’ from the days when brick making was in operation here. A thin, but ever deepening, layer of ‘flint rubble’, running north-west to south-east, indicates the former lie of the Ditch. Below this level, in the foreground of the photograph, the black humus soil is a build-up of sediment in the upper levels of the Ditch. Brick rubble in the foreground, beside the Shovel, is further evidence of brick making activities.
The white carrier bags contain samples of timber excavated from the Ditch, waiting to be taken away for examination.
The main evaluation of the excavation is yet to be released, however, an interim report deals with the subject of pollen. A pollen sample, taken from the margins of the Ditch, was sent to the University of Southampton for analysis. The sample, gained from an auger hole at a depth of 1.71-1.77 metres in the fill of the Ditch, proved to be rich in well preserved pollen and spores. Sediment infilling can provide possible ideas on the date of the Ditch and the local environment.
Evidence demonstrates that trees were an important feature of the landscape, dominated by oak, with traces of beech and holly. Birch, pine, poplar and alder, all wind pollinated, were well represented. Shrubs were dominated by hazel. It is likely that scrub woodland was growing in the proximity of the Ditch. The herb flora was diverse, but dominated by grasses, suggesting possible pastureland. A small number of cereal pollen grains indicate some arable activity may possibly have been taking place in the locality, but probably at some distance.
Some broad conclusions can be gained from this analysis, although pollen is not a tool for dating. The sequence, it is suggested, is of very late prehistoric or more probably early historic age. This suggestion cannot provide any indication of the original age of the Ditch, since the sample came from the upper levels of the fill and not from the base. The general importance of oak and hazel pollen noted is also commensurate with pollen data for the Iron Age, Roman and post Roman period.
13.
The Silent Stones
This final chapter is, strictly speaking, not a subject connected with Kiln Lane, but has been added by request. From Kingswood Farm the track now becomes Highwood Bottom (Some Ordnance Survey maps refer to it as Speen Bottom) continuing on towards the village of Speen.
A belief appears to have arisen, in the days of the eighteenth century, that all inhabitants of the Upper Hamlets (i.e. Speen, Lacey Green and Loosley Row) were extremely well endowed financially. This myth seems to have filtered through to the twenty-first century. Whilst it cannot be denied there are now some very wealthy residents in the three villages, it is equally true, sadly, that this wealth is not evenly distributed.
During the eighteenth century, the fact that the good people of Speen, carrying their heavy purses and bags of gold, were using this route to visit the ‘Tesco’s’ of the day in Princes Risborough, was noted by a highwayman named Cooper. He figured that since most of this section of the ancient road, except for a small area on the south side, was bordered by woodland, it would be an ideal site to stage a ‘hold-up’. He therefore began to ‘work’ this road with good results.
So successful were his exploits it is said at the time of his death he too had become a very wealthy man. It is claimed that he is buried, together with his vast treasure store, beside this road, the spot being marked by two large boulders. Some one hundred and fifty yards or so east of the entrance to Kingswood Farm, at the junction with Bridleway L30, these two large boulders remain and may still be seen in the hedgerow today. Reputedly, Cooper’s ghost still haunts this valley on crisp, clear moonlight nights.
The foregoing is the Speen version of the story of the ‘silent stones’. There is, of course, a far less romantic Lacey Green version.
It is believed there was once a lady named Nannie Cooper, who probably lived during the eighteenth century. She may have been connected with the management of Stocken Farm in Lacey Green, but this is uncertain. A rather eccentric person, it is said she would visit a pond to the south-east of Stocken Farm, taking with her a large bucket and a length of rope. Attaching the rope to the bough of an overhanging oak tree, she would climb into the bucket and swing back and forth across the surface of the water. Either by design or accident, but probably the former, she is said to have drowned in the pond. These boulders in Highwood Bottom reputedly mark her grave.
The very fact that the burial of those who committed suicide was not allowed in the consecrated ground of a Churchyard, may add some credence to the story. Prior to an Act of 1823 repealing the custom, the burying of suicides took place beside a public highway, possibly at cross roads, on the edge of the community. The boulders certainly stand on the borders of Speen and Lacey Green, in a setting that would have been remote and isolated in those far off days.
Other positive pieces of information have emerged regarding the Lacey Green version of the story. On an Abstract of Title of the aforementioned Sir William Foster, reference is made in 1766 to ‘Cooper’s Grave Bottom Wood’. This would suggest if the stones do mark a grave, that the burial was possibly around the middle of the 18 century.
Some years prior to the Princes Risborough Enclosure Act of 1823, the Commissioners surveyed the Parish of Princes Risborough and produced a map, which is still preserved, intact, in the County Record Office at Aylesbury. This particular section of the ancient highway between Speen and Princes Risborough is not recorded on the map as Highwood Bottom or Speen Bottom, but as ‘Cooper’s Grave Bottom’.
The field where the pond was situated is referred to as ‘Cooper’s Pond’ on an old farm map, dated 1872. The pond disappeared within living memory, filled in during World War II, to make way for a wartime airfield for the use of Sir Arthur “Bomber’ Harris, Commander in Chief of Bomber Command at Walters Ash. Although the pond has vanished, “Nannie Cooper’s’ is still retained as a present day field name.
The reader must therefore be left to draw their own conclusions from the above stories, but doubtless, the silent stones will keep their secret.
Postscript
At 00.51 a.m. on Monday 23 September 2002 an earth tremor was recorded in England, centred on Dudley, in the West Midlands. The tremor, fairly large by British standards, measured 4.8 on the Richter Scale. Despite Dudley being some eighty miles from Lacey Green, the effects of the tremor were certainly felt in Kiln Lane. There was a very loud rumbling, reminiscent of the empty agricultural trailers that use the road from time to time. The violent shaking of buildings followed this, as if a bulldozer was carrying out a demolition. The whole sensation was over in a matter of seconds. Nevertheless, it was a rather strange and somewhat unnerving experience. Thankfully, no injuries or damage was sustained.