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Amersham ---- News, Views & Information |
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 now
believed 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 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 Amersham-on-the-Hill. (There is also a third area,
called Little Chalfont, see here for more
details.) 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
(There is also Little Chalfont, which comes under the jurisdiction of Amersham
see here for more details).
It might be thought that since Amersham-on-the-Hill has
only really existed for the last 125 years or so, it might have little to
interest the historian compared to the much older 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, 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.) and 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. 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 along Hill Avenue and
Sycamore Road / Woodside Road were built/
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.
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
travellers (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!). Many believe the success of
the super market is having a bad impact on the shopping centre in
Amersham-on-the-Hill.
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 has recently
been rebuilt, 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
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.
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
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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