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Amersham
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Amersham is located 27 miles north west of London in the
county of Buckinghamshire.
Amersham - probably more than any other similar small town in England -
preserves in the streets of the Old Town the same general appearance that
it displayed during the 17th and 18th centuries. There is evidence that a
Roman Villa existed in the area, any remains are now believed to be buried
under Shardeloes Lane. However, the origins of the town go back to pre
Saxon times. Amersham was then called Agmodesham. The Doomsday Book listed
Amersham as Elmodesham, with 6 manors, one belonging to the wife of Edward
the Confessor. In 1200, King John granted the town a market and fair, the
fair is still held every year on the 19th and 20th of September, the
market every Tuesday, but it has moved to Amersham on the Hill. The
Reformation had some roots in the town as several Lollards were condemned
to death and burnt at the stake, a memorial on the hill above the town
commemorates this event and in 2001 and 2004 the people of Amersham
performed a community play re creating the events of the time.
The Market Hall - Old Amersham
Amersham is broadly split in two, Amersham Old town, a historic market
town and the newer Amersham on the Hill. Amersham on the Hill also has
adjacant areas of Amersham Common and Little Chalfont (see here
for more details.) which in recent years has gained its own Parish
status. The reason for the two parts of the town can be traced mainly to
the Metropolitan Railway and the later Metropolitan line of London's
underground.
It might be thought that since Amersham on the Hill has
only really existed since the 1890s, that it might have little to interest
the historian compared to the much older Amersham Old Town. However, the
story of Amersham on the Hill deserves investigation and the reasons for
its existence has meant that the Old Town has remained largely unchanged.
Amersham is now the last stop on the London Underground's Metropolitan
Line. Although now only a commuter route into the City, the origins of the
Metropolitan Line had a major impact on the development of Amersham.
The world's first underground railway, the Metropolitan Railway, opened in
1863 between what is now Paddington and Farringdon in London. The network
soon expanded to form the basis of what is now the underground / tube
system in London. However, the owners of the Metropolitan Railway had
grander ideas and made plans to link their northern railway interests with
the Met and then on to Paris via a channel tunnel. In the 1880's and '90's
the Metropolitan Railway pushed north westwards out of London on the first
part of their ambitious plan. The counties of Middlesex, Hertfordshire and
Buckinghamshire, which the line passed through, were then unspoilt
countryside. Some of the landowners on the proposed route did not want the
railway passing over their land and this forced the Met to alter its
route. The railway reached Amersham in 1892 and was forced to traverse the
hills above the town rather than go through the valley (because the
Tyrwhitt Drakes - Lord of the Manor of Amersham living in Shardeloes - did
not want the railway to ruin the view across their land). From the 1830s
to the 1880s the reluctance of the landowners in the area to have railways
meant the Amersham area did not get rail travel for many years after
similar towns nearby, this affected Amersham's growth. Whereas nearby
towns such as Berkhamstead on a main line into London prospered from their
rail link, Amersham almost became a back water. The late arrival of the
railway in Amersham meant Amersham did not enjoy the initial rail boom and
the route it had to take meant the station was sited some distance from
the centre of what is now Old Amersham, both these facts meant the
development of Amersham was unlike many other towns in Britain. The
Metropolitan Railway pushed further onwards into Buckinghamshire and
although the ambition to link to Paris was not fulfilled, the Met
collaborated with what became the Great Central Railway to provide a
mainline service to London (Marylebone). When the railway arrived, even
though it did not pass through what was then the centre of Amersham, many
were still opposed to it.
Prior to the arrival of the railway in Amersham, the area around where the
station would be built was known as Amersham Common. The common actually
spread from Hyde Heath to what is now Little Chalfont. Over the years
farms encroached on to the Common land and gradually enclosed the Common
(The Enclosure Act of 1815 formalised this process). Apart from the farms,
there were a few pubs and cottages across what is now Amersham on the
Hill, some of the pubs can still be seen, as can some of the old cottages,
such as those in Grimsdells Lane and Chestnut Lane. Some of the farms were
very old, and had been turned into family estates. Raans Farm (still
standing) dates from at least 1540. It was an important Manor of the area
and was granted to the de Mandevilles, a prominent family and land owner
in the wider area. Through marriage and succession, Raans passed to the
Grove and Brudenell families (names still found in local roads and former
school names). Later the Proby family owned the Farm and it was sold to
the Duke of Bedford and Lord Chesham. Reeves Farm dates from the 17th
century and now only survives in the names of roads, its old farm house
having disappeared. Woodside Farm has claimed connections with Mary
Pennington, she was the mother of Gulielma Springett who married William
Penn who founded the state of Pennsylvania. The Pennington had lived in
Bury Farm in the Old Town and moved to Woodside manor situated where
Woodside Farm became, some of the farm's buildings survive as part of the
Community Centre on Chiltern Avenue. Beel House is also thought to be
where Mary Pennington lived, see here .
Another notable occupant of Amersham Common was the Weller family (see
later about the Weller Brewery) who built a large house called The
Plantation close to where Plantation Road is now. It was later converted
to flats and called Park Place, later still being demolished, but its name
survives in the current Park Place development.
Initially development was slow to start around the station. The Station
Hotel was built, the licence being transferred from the Black Horse pub.
(The Station Hotel became the Iron Horse Pub and was demolished in 2004,
replaced by a block of flats). Although many of the land owners saw
the potential for development, it was very slow to start. However,
development did gradually start to take place in Edwardian times.
Initially a few buildings by the station and then some housing. Some of
the houses built on Chesham Road and Chesham Bois used windows and fire
places from houses which were demolished to make way for Marylebone
station in London. Marylebone was the new London terminus of the Great
Central Railway which made an agreement with the Metropolitan to share the
Met's tracks into London. This also gave Amersham a rail connection with
the North of England. A local charity sold some land for housing
development and architect John Kennard designed some very attractive
buildings. Over the next 20 years or so Kennard worked with developers and
created some very distinctive buildings in Amersham. Along Hill Avenue he
designed some commercial buildings, but because it was uncertain how
successful the area would become, houses were also built along Hill
Avenue. These were later converted into shops and if you look above the
shop fronts on some of the buildings today, you can still see their
original house design. Some early housing development took place in
Longfield Drive and around Chesham Boise, both advertised by the
Metropolitan Railway in its publications.
Kennard's distinctive buildings on Oakfield Corner
After World War I the housing boom started and Amersham benefited. Kennard
designed Elm Close, a development about 50 yards from the station which is
a group of houses around a village green setting (see
here for more details). He also designed the building at Oakfield
Corner and following its success built similar buildings down Sycamore
Road and Chesham Road. Other developers started to build houses giving
Amersham on the Hill some character. The growth of Amersham on the Hill
had started. It is in many ways unlike other towns having very little
Victorian development as a result of the late arrival of the railway and
the open space the railway arrived in.
Although the Metropolitan Railway never fulfilled its grand plans, it
nevertheless proved popular. Along the line through Middlesex and
Hertfordshire developers built houses and shops to attract people out of
over crowded Central London. The Metropolitan Railway realised it could
encourage this process by using the large amount of land it had acquired
along its route and buying up land, it started to develop its own housing.
It promoted the area along the line as "Metro-land" and undertook a very
successful campaign to attract people to live in "London's nearest
countryside". The modern day suburbs of north west London were born. In
Amersham, The Metropolitan Railway Estates Company (MRCE) used its land
and land it bought from local landowners to build the Weller Estate. The
MRCE purchased the land in 1930 for £18,000 and by the outbreak of World
War II 535 semi detached houses had been built to be sold at £875 upwards.
The houses were well designed and contained all "mod cons" for the day. As
well as the houses built by the Met in the 1930s, other developers
continued to build houses. In Sycamore Road Sainsburys built Chiltern
Parade near to the cinema which had opened in 1928.
Part of the Metropolitan's Weller Estate
New communities of people who worked in London during the day, but lived
in "Metro-land" were created. Amersham on the Hill was one such community
and its growth continued. From a small collection of farms and cottages in
the 1890s, Amersham on the Hill grew over the next 50 years. By World Way
II Amersham on the Hill was a thriving town and the commercial heart of
Amersham had moved there from the Old Town which had remained largely
unchanged.
The outbreak of World War II put a stop to the spread of London further
into the countryside. After the war a "green belt" was created around
London leaving Amersham as one of the first places in the countryside
outside of London.
In the early 1960s the Metropolitan Line (as the Metropolitan Railway had
become) was electrified as far as Amersham, with the line north of
Amersham transferred to British Rail for its service to Aylesbury. The
improved electric train service provided another boost for the town with
further housing and new shops and offices were built along Hill Avenue,
Sycamore Road and Woodside Road.
The 1930s Chiltern Parade - Sycamore Road
Today, a lot of the character of the 1930s Amersham has gone. The reliance
on the train for travel has decreased, replaced by the car and nearby
motorway network. The shopping centre has lost many of its small shops,
victims of the success of the large supermarkets. The town's cinema and
theatre closed in the 1960s. New offices have been built, a fine swimming
pool complex and much in filling of spare land with houses. Many of the
early houses in Amersham on the Hill were large developments and a number
have been sold off, demolished and replaced by smaller houses. The
restrictions on developing in the Green Belt have meant there has been
much infilling in Amersham, some would argue too much with small
developments of smaller houses and flats being squeezed in. In
recent years the arrival of a small Waitrose and marks and Spenser along
with a number of coffee shops have created a buzz again in the shopping
area.
Light industry has come to the area. The Radio Chemicals Centre was
established in World War II to make such things as luminous paint. It
developed after the War into making radio isotopes for the medical
industry. The Centre became a large employer in the town and became
Amersham International when it was privatised. The Company is still based
in the area although it has had several name changes.
While the development of Amersham on the Hill was taking
place during the 20th century, the Old Town hardly changed.
Amersham, as Old Amersham is correctly known, is an old market town with
much to commend it. It appears today attractive and picturesque,
particularly in summer when hanging baskets and window boxes adorn the
many old buildings. The main High Street, outstanding because of its width
is flanked by a variety of different frontages which have changed greatly
over the centuries, but its history can be detected from the many varying
period styles. One needs to look at the roof line of premises and if it
were permitted, the interiors which would reveal timber framed structures
with wattle and daub. Fine old houses; coaching inns; little court yards;
almshouses and modest cottages can all be found along the main
thoroughfare, in the middle of which stands the ancient Market Hall.
Amersham was known by the Saxons as Agmodesham. The earliest charter
concerning Amersham is dated AD 796. Amersham (or as it was known then as
Elmodesham) is mentioned in the Doomsday Survey of 1086 and in the year
1200, King John granted a charter for a weekly market, an annual fair, two
members of Parliament as a "Pocket Borough" which lasted up to the Reform
Act of 1832. The granting of a charter for a market was the impetus for
some town planning, whereby the land owners planned a large market square
and wide street to make their market a success. The geographical location
of Amersham on the River Misbourne helped the town to grow. The wooded
surrounds and land suitable for agriculture also helped the town grow to
become a central area for the community which the market only encouraged.
Traders started to base themselves in Amersham and local business grew to
support the market and the town.
The Martyr's Memorial
From the 14th century, Amersham was an active centre of Dissent: on the
hill above Amersham is The Martyrs' Memorial to those who were burnt at
the stake for their religious beliefs during the reign of Queen Mary.
During the Civil War Oliver Cromwell's family lived in the area (at
Woodrow High House, just outside Amersham). From the 17th century
prominent Quakers settled in the area and endured persecution. (A quakers
meeting house is situated in Whielden Street). The town also had two
Baptist churches and the Methodist opened a church in 1899.
The main trades of the town were chair making, lace work and straw plait
work. The growth of the town was also helped by the fact that trade routes
/ roads passed through the town (London to Birmingham / Reading to
Hatfield being the most important), giving rise to coaching inns and
facilities to support the trade. Amersham would have been the first stop
out of London and became very important for providing overnight
accommodation and "comfort stops" for the horse drawn coach travelers (and
the horses). The town had many coaching inns which needed the related
businesses to support them, along with breweries and maltings. The
maltings also produced excess materials and these were transported to
London. The Weller brewery grew in the 19th century to become the largest
employer in the town. It also had a large chain of pubs in Amersham as
well as the rest of Buckinghamshire and surrounding counties. The Weller
family sold the brewery and pubs at auction in 1929 after which brewing
left Amersham, but the building remain. For more information about the
Weller brewery see the web site here
On the out skirts of Amersham is Shardeloes. Shardeloes was the ancestral
home of the Tyrwhitt Drake family, the Lord of the Manor. The Tyrwhitt
Drake family had a great influence on Amersham. By marrying well their
fortunes grew through the 16th to 19th centuries. Their power enabled them
to have a large say in the appointment of Amersham's Rector, who often was
a member of the family and the town's two MPs (up to The Reform act of
1832). They also acquired many properties in Amersham, letting them to
sympathetic supports enabling the MPs representing Amersham to either be
Tyrwhitt Drakes or their supporters. The Tyrwhitt Drakes were also
benefactors and built Alms Houses (1657) and the Market Hall (1682). Their
fortunes declined in the 19th and 20th centuries. The need to pay high
death duties was one of the reasons why much of their property in Amersham
was auctioned off in the 1928 in what became known as "the auction of a
town". The Tyrwhitt Drake family are still Lord of the Manor of Amersham,
but no longer live in Amersham. An interesting story about the Tyrwhitt
Drake family concerns a curse put on the family where by the family
inheritance would never be inherited by a direct heir. The curse was
placed on the family by the family of a boy murdered at sea when in the
employ of one of the Tyrwitt-Drakes. Their coat of arms is surmounted by
an axe dripping with blood and the wheels of their carriages had to be
painted red! (Later red rims on cars). To break the curse, a member of the
family had to spend a certain length of time in an underground tunnel
(under Shardeloes lake I think). Once a member of the family (many, many
years ago) tried to break the curse and spent a period of time in the
tunnel, but gave up and came out mad! How much of the above story is based
on fact is uncertain, but its a good story! Is this story related to a
story that tragedies would occur to the Tyrwitt-Drakes unless a member of
the family lived in "the dungeons". There were underground cellars and
possibly passages under Shardeloes, but when the deeds of number 119 High
Street were looked at, it was found that the house used to be called "The
Dungeons" - was this where one of the Tyrwitt-Drakes should have lived? It
is also said that if Shardeloes Lake dries up, England will fall. For
further details of Shardeloes, see here
. Shardeloes has now been converted into luxury flats. During World
War II it served as a maternity hospital for people from London to come
out to the countryside to have their children, over 5000 children were
born there.
Shardeloes House
With the improvement in road travel and the later development of the
railways, Amersham's importance as a centre on a trade route declined. By
the 1870s, much of the former coach traffic had passed to the railways
(which did not arrive in Amersham until 1892) and the people of Amersham
had very poor transport connections compared to other nearby towns.
Amersham was becoming a backwater, but the development of Amersham on the
Hill changed that and also changed Amersham for ever. For many years (Old)
Amersham hardly changed.
However, over recent years change has started to occur in the Old Town. In
1987 a much needed by pass was opened helping to free the High Street from
heavy traffic. Shortly after the by pass was opened a huge Tesco super
market was opened on the sites of the old Bowyer's / Brazil's meat factory
and bus garage. The supermarket is very popular (open 24 hours a day) and
pulls people from miles around to Amersham (increasing the traffic!).
Another change to Amersham has been the demolition of the gas holders
which spoilt the view of Amersham in the valley for years. Another blot on
the landscape has gone with the demolition of the 1960's built nursing
home tower at the hospital. Amersham hospital was rebuilt in the 1990s,
the "temporary" wards built during World War II have been replaced by a
modern hospital. The original work house building at the hospital has been
converted into flats. The new hospital is a different hospital to the
previous general hospital. Most surgery has been transferred to High
Wycombe and Stoke Manderville while Amersham specializes in day surgery,
geriatrics, psychological problems and specialist departments such as
dermatology.
Many small office blocks have been built around Amersham and the the Old
Town is gaining a reputation of hosting a fine selection of restaurants to
complement the numerous pubs the town has always enjoyed. A nu,ber
of high class clothing stores have also opened.
St. Mary's Church
The above only gives an indication of the history of Amersham. For more
information I can recommend the following books. "Yesterday's Town:
Amersham" by Nicholas Salmon & Clive Birch - Copyright 1991, ISBN 0
86023 486 X, "A History of Amersham" by Julian Hunt - Copyright 2001, ISBN
1 86077 187 4 Another useful source of information is The
Amersham Museum , or you may find The
Amersham Society of interest
Amersham History
Info is also an interesting web site. Developed by Amersham
Museum this web site aims to make easily available the extensive
collection of articles, research, photos and objects related to the
history of Amersham
I do not have an up to date population figure for
Amersham, but the 2001 census reveals there are 89 thousand people living
in the area covered by Chiltern District Council. The area includes
Amersham, Chesham, the Chalfonts, the Missendens and surrounding villages.
I would estimate Amersham to be over 20 thousand.
Here is how the population has changed -
Year - Population
1801 - 2314
1851 - 3662
1901 - 3209
1951 -10894
1991 - 17629
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