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Amersham ---- News, Views & Information

Pictorial Tour of Amersham
Old Amersham High Street - Page 2

Town Mill - Late 17th century, but much restored, with stream coming out under bridge. A mill on this site was mentioned with Millstream in the Doomsday Survey of 1086

High Street taken in from the Missenden end

The Eagle pub. Many of the old shops in the high street have been turned into houses, or perhaps that should be have reverted to houses.

It is far from easy to state a definite or exact age for most of the houses and cottages which have been considerably altered and added to throughout the centuries. Many of the original half - timbered fronts were covered over by plain brick elevations in Georgian times when brickwork came into fashion all over the country instead of timber-framing and nogging. So, older houses were given this "new look" to make them like the newly built 18th century residences. The oldest parts of almost all the Amersham houses are the backs. A considerable number still preserve some interior wattle - and - daub walling which may well date from as early as the 14th century. A number of houses also contain ancient wall paintings, which are of historical interest and are on private property and not available for pubic viewing.

High Street looking towards Missenden

Drake's Almshouses - built in 1657 by William Drake to house 6 poor women of the parish, widows over fifty years of age. Among their benefits were "a gown of London brown at Christmas each year for the first three years and alternate years thereafter; a pair of shoes, a pair of stockings and a shift twice a year at Christmas and Easter; and firewood. The almshouses have recently been modernised and are still in use, although not quite for the same purpose.

Picture Courtesy of Norma West

Closer views of the Almshouses

Old Amersham was in the past an overnight stop for horse drawn coaches heading to and from London. A number of coaching inns developed in the 15th and 16th centuries to cater for this trade. Supporting services in the town also developed making Amersham an important town. There were numerous coaching inns which have a distinctive look about them, having an arch through to a court yard behind where the stables and out buildings would be. As coaches and roads improved, travelers could cover longer distances in a day and Amersham's coaching trade declined along with a lot of its coaching inns. Today a few of the coaching inns still remain such as The Crown, The Griffin and the Saracens Head. Others have long gone, many closing in the 1700s, but they can still be spotted. Above is the old White Hart coaching inn which closed in about 1700 Nos. 56 contains contains wall paintings from 1550. The paintings are of the 9 Worthies, although they are not easily identifiable now, they are believed to be Julias Ceasar, Duke Joshua, King David, Hector of Troy, Charlemagne, Godfrey de Bouillon, Alexander the Great, Judas Maccabaeus and King Arthur, all well known characters to the inhabitants of 1550.

Continue to High Street page 3

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