The hamlet name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means 'wood chips'. This refers to the location of the hamlet in the Chiltern Forest where trees are likely to be felled fairly regularly.
Speen is the location of a home of rest for horses, and is the place where all horses in royal or military service are retired to when they get too old or become injured. Many of the horses that were injured when the IRA bombed the Horse Guards in the early 1980s were brought here, and became a popular tourist attraction for animal lovers.