Seer Green

Seer Green is a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the Chiltern Hills, east-north-east of Beaconsfield and south-west of Chalfont St Giles.

History

Local legend has it that the "Seer" refers to King Arthur's Court visiting the area and locals consulting his "seer" Merlin, according to the Chilterns Conservation Board the toponym "Seer" is derived from the Norman French for "dry or arid place". However "sere" is also the Middle English word for dry - derived from Old English "seare", additionally the Buckinghamshire government website notes that both "sear\sere" and "grene" appear to be of English origin Seer Green - Buckinghampshire Heritage Portal
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When the Domesday Book was complied in 1086 Seer Green was a part of Farnham Royal, governed by Bertram I de Verdun - the land in pre-conquest England having previously belonged to Princess Godgifu. The land was passed down by the Verduns to their descendants until through marriage it was passed onto the Furnival, Neville and Talbot families.

In a manorial roll dating back to Henry III's reign in 1232 it was called ''La Sere'', after this other recorded names during the Medieval Era, in chronological order, have been La Cere, Le Shere, La Zere, Sera and Sere.

In 1541 Seer Green along with the rest of the manor of Farnham became a holding of Henry VIII when he exchanged land with the 5th Earl of Shrewsbury.

The oldest building in Seer Green is Hall Place which is a Grade II listed building.

The Holy Trinity Church was built in 1846. It is brick and flint with lancet windows. There is also a Baptist church.

Seer Green became a separate parish in 1866, having previously been a hamlet of the parish of Farnham Royal. It had levied a separate poor rate before then.

Until the early part of the 20th century Seer Green was mainly an agricultural village, known for its cherry orchards. The remnants of some of these orchards remain and in honour of this tradition the local school holds a "Cherry Pie Fair" every summer which usually involves a fancy dress parade and a procession through the village.

Amenities

The parish has a Church of England primary school. The village has a Scout troop that is successful in regional competitions. The village youth football club, Seer Green United, has under 7s, under 8s and under 13s teams. The village is close to Hodgemoor Wood, a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Seer Green and Jordans railway station is on the Chiltern Main Line between Beaconsfield and Gerrards Cross. The station was originally called "Beaconsfield Golf Club", the golf club being next door, but the name was later changed to reflect its position between the two settlements. Bus route 104, provided by Carousel, also runs through the village.

M40 Junction 2 is nearby.

Notable people

Notable residents have included:

* Frederick Forsyth, author
* Ian McCaskill, weather presenter''Buckinghamshire Examiner'' Friday 14 January 1994, page 10
* Jon Anderson, musician and lead singer of Yes

Demography

Ethnic and religious background

At the 2001 UK census, the Seer Green electoral ward had a population of 2,267. The ethnicity was 98% white, 0.6% mixed race, 0.8% Asian, 0.1% black and 0.5% other. The place of birth of residents was 88.7% United Kingdom, 0.7% Republic of Ireland, 2.6% other Western European countries, and 8% elsewhere. Religion was recorded as 78% Christian, 0.2% Buddhist, 0.3% Hindu, 0% Sikh, 0.7% Jewish, and 0.3% Muslim. 14% were recorded as having no religion, 0.4% had an alternative religion and 6.1% did not state their religion.

Economic Activity

The economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 40.6% in full-time employment, 11.2% in part-time employment, 13.6% self-employed, 1.3% unemployed, 2.2% students with jobs, 3.6% students without jobs, 13.7% retired, 9.9% looking after home or family, 2.1% permanently sick or disabled and 1.8% economically inactive for other reasons.

The industry of employment of residents was 14% retail, 10.8% manufacturing, 5.5% construction, 25.7% real estate, 9.3% health and social work, 8% education, 6.3% transport and communications, 3.5% public administration, 2.3% hotels and restaurants, 4.9% finance, 1.1% agriculture and 8.6% other. Compared with national figures, the ward had a relatively high proportion of workers in real estate, and a relatively low proportion in public administration, hotels and restaurants. Of the ward's residents aged 16–74, 36.2% had a higher education qualification or the equivalent, compared with 19.9% nationwide.

References

External links

Vision of Britain

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Villages in Buckinghamshire
Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire