Loosley Row
{{Short description|Hamlet in Buckinghamshire, England}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox UK place
|country = England
|static_image_name = Farm buildings at Loosley Row - geograph.org.uk - 36960.jpg
|static_image_caption= Farm buildings at Loosley Row
|coordinates = {{coord|51.697340|-0.822179|display=inline,title}}
|official_name =Loosley Row
|population =
|civil_parish=Lacey Green
|unitary_england = Buckinghamshire
|lieutenancy_england = Buckinghamshire
|region= South East England
|constituency_westminster=Buckingham
|post_town= PRINCES RISBOROUGH
|postcode_district = HP27
|postcode_area=HP
|dial_code=01844
|os_grid_reference= SP815005
}}
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.{{NOMIS2011|id=E04001606|title=Lacey Green Parish|accessdate=4 March 2020}}
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'.{{cite book |last1=Ekwall |first1=Eilert |title=The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names |date=1947 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |oclc=12542596 |page=290 |edition=3}} 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.{{cite web |title=Surname Database: Loosley Last Name Origin |url=https://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Loosley |website=surnamedb.com |accessdate=4 March 2020}}
The Domesday Book talks of the large number of pigs at (Princes) Risborough.{{cite web |title=[Princes] Risborough {{!}} Domesday Book |url=https://opendomesday.org/place/SP8003/princes-risborough/ |website=opendomesday.org |accessdate=4 March 2020}} 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.{{sfn|LRCA|2000|p=2}} 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.{{cite book |last1=Scott |first1=Valerie G |title=Buckinghamshire |date=1984 |publisher=Quiller Press in association with Knight, Frank & Rutley |location=London |isbn=0-907621-30-9 |page=xvii}}{{cite news |last1=Wareham |first1=Stephanie |title=Firefighters rescue car from 'precarious' position following crash |url=https://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/15920032.firefighters-rescue-car-from-precarious-position-following-crash-at-the-junction-of-wardrobes-lane-and-brimmers-road-loosley-row/ |accessdate=4 March 2020 |work=Bucks Free Press |date=5 February 2018 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Buckinghamshire Green Belt Assessment |url=https://www.wycombe.gov.uk/uploads/public/documents/Planning/New-local-plan/20160307-Bucks-green-belt-assessment-Annex-1A-General-area-assessments-pro-formas.pdf |website=wycombe.gov.uk |accessdate=4 March 2020 |pages=79–81 |format=PDF |date=March 2016}} The old township of Loosley Row, stretched over to Bledlow Ridge, across what is now the A4010 road.{{cite news |title=Cheltenham & Oxford Union Railway |work=Jackson's Oxford Journal |issue=5,194 |date=13 November 1852 |location=Column D |page=2}}
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.{{cite web |title=Coombe Hill and Whitleaf Chalk Escarpment |url=https://old.buckscc.gov.uk/media/1997170/113-LCA-Coombe-Hill-and-Whiteleaf-Escarpment.pdf |website=oldbuckscc.gov.uk |accessdate=4 March 2020 |page=3 |format=PDF}}
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).{{cite web |title=Loosley Row Church of England School |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F199530 |website=discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk |accessdate=4 March 2020}}{{cite news |last1=Bramley |first1=Pat |title=Loosely Row homes undergo makeover as they go up for sale |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AWNB&t=continent%3AEurope%21Europe/region%3ASouth%2BEast%21England%2B-%2BSouth%2BEast&sort=_rank_%3AD&page=1&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=Loosley%20Row&docref=news/175393046FCA63E8 |accessdate=4 March 2020 |work=infoweb.newsbank.com |date=10 August 2019|url-access=subscription}}{{sfn|LRCA|2000|p=3}} 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.{{cite web |title=The Chilterns AONB - Map categories |url=https://www.chilternsaonb.org/ccbmaps/1644/137/the-parish-well-at-loosley-row.html |website=www.chilternsaonb.org |accessdate=4 March 2020}} A forge, which lends its 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.{{cite web |title=Lacey Green and Loosley Row Village Design Statement |url=https://www.wycombe.gov.uk/uploads/public/documents/Planning/Planning-policy/Area-based/Lacey-Green-and-Loosley-Row-vilage-design-statement.pdf |website=wycombe.gov.uk |accessdate=4 March 2020 |pages=16–22 |format=PDF}}
Notable people
The television astronomer, Heather Couper, lived in the hamlet.{{cite news |last1=Wareham |first1=Stephanie |title='Charismatic' TV astronomer and Bucks resident Heather Couper dies after short illness |url=https://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/18247598.loosley-row-tv-astronomer-heather-couper-dies-short-illness/ |accessdate=4 March 2020 |work=Bucks Free Press |date=20 February 2020 |language=en}}
The ' Buckinghamshire Examiner ' newspaper reported (on the 14th. January,1994), that meteoroogist and tv. weather and Bert Foord
was a resident.
Astronomer, science writer and Virgin Galactic astronaut Nigel Henbest has lived in Loosley Row for over 30 years.
References
{{reflist}}
=Sources=
- {{cite report|title=Conservation Area Character Survey: Loosley Row|publisher=Wycombe District Council|url=https://www.wycombe.gov.uk/uploads/public/documents/Planning/Conservation-areas-and-listed-buildings/Loosley-Row-conservation-area.pdf|format=PDF|date=2000|website=wycombe.gov.uk|accessdate=4 March 2020|ref={{sfnref|LRCA|2000}} }}
External links
- [https://www.laceygreen.com/Sections/Historical.php Lacey Green and Loosley Row website]
{{Wycombe}}