Loosley Row

Loosley Row is a hamlet in the civil parish of Lacey Green, Buckinghamshire, England. It is located in the Chiltern Hills to the east of the main town of Princes Risborough. In the 2011 Census, the population was recorded in the Lacey Green Parish, which included Speen, parts of Walter's Ash, and Lacey Green, with a combined population of 2,559.[1]

Loosley Row

Farm buildings at Loosley Row
Loosley Row
Location within Buckinghamshire
OS grid referenceSP815005
Civil parish
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townPRINCES RISBOROUGH
Postcode districtHP27
Dialling code01844
PoliceThames Valley
FireBuckinghamshire
AmbulanceSouth Central
UK Parliament

The hamlet sits on a west-facing chalk escarpment, that stretches to north-eastwards to Coombe Hill.

History

The hamlet name derives from the Old English hlose-leah, and means 'pigstye-clearing'.[2] It is often said that the hamlet was named after the Loosley family but it is, in fact, the other way round - the family was named after the place.[3]

The Domesday book talks of the large number of pigs at (Princes) Risborough.[4] Pigs were often found in clearings at the edges of the woods, the animals allowed to wander through sectioned areas of the woods. The row of piggeries in the lea of the woods became the start of a settlement called Loosley Row.[5] Loosley Row stretched from Brimmer's Farm, east of Princes Risborough, round the side of the hill to the hamlet we know today. It included Wardrobes farm and Wardrobes House.[6][7][8] The old township of Loosley Row, stretched over to Bledlow Ridge, across what is now the A4010 road.[9]

The underlying geology consists of chalk which typifies the area around Princes Risborough. Loosley Row sits as the south end of a chalk escarpment that runs south-westwards from Coombe Hill to Loosley Row and affords good views of the Vale of Aylesbury to the west.[10]

The hamlet used to have a chapel, a school, a village store, a bakery and a post office, but these have all now been closed (the school was shut down in 1916).[11][12][13] The hamlet also has a dried up parish well, which is situated on what is claimed to be the smallest patch of common land in the Chilterns.[14] A forge, which lends is name to Foundry Lane through the hamlet, still operates in Loosley Row. It has created some of the bus shelters seen on the road through Lacey Green from Princes Risborough.[15]

Notable people

The television astronomer, Heather Couper, lived in the hamlet.[16]

References
  1. UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Lacey Green Parish (E04001606)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  2. Ekwall, Eilert (1947). The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names (3 ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 290. OCLC 12542596.
  3. "Surname Database: Loosley Last Name Origin". surnamedb.com. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  4. "[Princes] Risborough | Domesday Book". opendomesday.org. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  5. LRCA 2000, p. 2.
  6. Scott, Valerie G (1984). Buckinghamshire. London: Quiller Press in association with Knight, Frank & Rutley. p. xvii. ISBN 0-907621-30-9.
  7. Wareham, Stephanie (5 February 2018). "Firefighters rescue car from 'precarious' position following crash". Bucks Free Press. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  8. "Buckinghamshire Green Belt Assessment" (PDF). wycombe.gov.uk. March 2016. pp. 79–81. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  9. "Cheltenham & Oxford Union Railway". Jackson's Oxford Journal (5, 194). Column D. 13 November 1852. p. 2.
  10. "Coombe Hill and Whitleaf Chalk Escarpment" (PDF). oldbuckscc.gov.uk. p. 3. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  11. "Loosley Row Church of England School". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  12. Bramley, Pat (10 August 2019). "Loosely Row homes undergo makeover as they go up for sale". infoweb.newsbank.com. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  13. LRCA 2000, p. 3.
  14. "The Chilterns AONB - Map categories". www.chilternsaonb.org. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  15. "Lacey Green and Loosley Row Village Design Statement" (PDF). wycombe.gov.uk. pp. 16–22. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  16. Wareham, Stephanie (20 February 2020). "'Charismatic' TV astronomer and Bucks resident Heather Couper dies after short illness". Bucks Free Press. Retrieved 4 March 2020.

Sources
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