Walnut Tree House

Research by Joan West

In 1823 Goodacres Lane did not exist. The land on which it was later constructed was part of the vast common of Princes Risborough which covered much of Lacey Green and some land on the hilltop of Loosley Row. Click Princes Risborough Common to see two maps.

The first map shows the full area of Princes Risborough Common.

The second map below that shows the changes made in 1823 when the Enclosures of Princes Risborough took place.

Before 1823 there were no roads in Lacey Green village. The route from the Hughenden Valley to Princes Risborough ran through Speen, along Highwood Bottom, cut straight across Princes Risborough Common to the pond behind Windmill Farm. It proceeded down towards Princes Risborough joining Woodway, which was already an established route and on to the town. In 1823 the proposed Main Road in Lacey Green was confirmed in the 1823 Enclosures.

Goodacres Lane December 1927

The land on which Goodacres Lane was constructed had formerly been part of Princes Risborough Common, part of the Manor of Princes Risborough.   Cows from the town were brought up here to graze. In 1823 this part of the Common was bought by John Grubb, the Lord of the Manor. On the second map above, it is coloured plain green and shows Windmill Farm. He gave a small part of it to the new Lacey Green Church as Glebe land. The Remaining Land stretched from “Windmill Road”, later called "Pink Road" to the north to Kiln Farm to the south.   The only properties on it were the Windmill on Windmill Farm, and the Kiln and Kiln Farm on the southeast. In 1841 John Grubb, being bankrupt, sold it to to Lord Buckingham and Chandos who also became bankrupt and in 1848 put it up for auction.

John Cheshire, tenant of Windmill Farm, miller, wishing to own his rented property, purchased this lot.

John Cheshire struggled to cope with the size of his mortgages. By 1861, after several mortgages with various people the sole mortgagee was Frances Josephine Irving of West Worthing, Sussex

In 1889 as £1,300 plus accruing interest was now owing by John Cheshire, the said F.J.Irving was enabled to sell several plots of land. These included -

Sold to William Saunders, of New House Farm, Denner Hill, Great Missenden, for £730: -

Schedule. - 1. The field of arable land ( This is the site of Walnut Tree House) at Lacey Green, containing 7 acres, 19 poles, bounded on the S by a proposed new roadway (later to become Goodacres Lane); on the north by property of John Cheshire, mortgaged to Frances Josephine Irving: On the South by property of John Cheshire, but recently remortgaged to Mary Ann Buckmaster

2.   The arable field at Lacey Green known as the “Hillocks”, formerly part of Kiln Farm, then containing 30 acres 2 roods 14 poles, but a small portion having been sold, it was found to contain 29 acres 1 rood 37 poles. (This is the field straight ahead at the bottom of Goodacres Lane)

Which herein 1^st and 2^nd described, together with full right and liberty for William Saunders, in along and over the proposed new roadway, 16 feet in width and abstracting presents recently set out by Francis Josephine. click William Saunders & Bethia Janes for more about William Saunders.