Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for AMERSHAM

AMERSHAM, a town a parish, a subdistrict, and a district in Bucks. The town was formerly called Agmondesham. It stands in a pleasant valley near the Misbourne tributary of the river Colne, surrounded by wood-crowned hills, 7½ miles ENE of Wycombe r. sta tion, and 8½ SSW of Berkhampstead. It consists chiefly of a long street crossed by a shorter one. The town house was erected, in 1682, by Sir William Drake; and is a substantial brick edifice, with arched and pillared basement, used as a market-place, and a surmounting clock lantern. The parish church is a Gothic edifice of brick coated with stucco; has a fine east window, filled with ancient stained glass; and contains monu ments of the Drakes, the Dents, and the Curwens. There are four dissenting chapels, a free grammar school, founded in 1620, with endowed income of £86, and three exhibitions at Oxford; endowed writing-school, Sunday school, alms-houses, and other charities with aggregately £342; and a workhouse. A weekly market is held on Tuesday, and fairs, on Whit-Monday and 19 Sept. Manufactures of straw-plait, black lace, silk crape, and wooden chairs are carried on. The town has a head post office‡ and two hotels, and publishes a bi-weekly newspaper. It was a borough, from the time of Edward I., sending two members to parliament; but was disfranchised by the act of 1832. The Drakes represented it for upwards of two centuries; the poet Waller, in the reign of Charles I.; and Algernon Sydney, in 1679. Several of its inhabitants were burnt at the stake, as martyrs, in the times of Henry I. and of Mary; and John Knox preached in its church. Pop., 3,019. Houses, 578.—The parish includes also part of the hamlet of Coles hill. Acres, 10,544. Real-property, £6,677. Pop., 3,550. Houses, 698. The property is not much divided. The manor belonged to the Nevilles, to Warwick the king-maker, and to the Tothills; and passed to the Drakes. Shardeloes, the manor-house, stands about a mile NW of the town, and is a fine edifice designed by Adams. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford. Value, £1,331.* Patron, T. T. Drake, Esq.-The sub district is co-extensive with the parish.—The district comprehends also the subdistrict of Missenden, containing the parishes of Lee and Great Missenden; the sub district of Chesham, containing the parishes of Chesham, and Chesham-Bois; the subdistrict of Chalfont, containing the parishes of Chenies, Chalfont-St. Giles, and Chalfont-St. Peter; and the subdistrict of Beaconsfield, containing the parishes of B. and Penn, and the chapelry of Seer-Green. Acres, 49,840. Poor-rates in 1866, £10,021. Pop. in 1841, 18,212; in 1861, 18,240. Houses, 3,826. Marriages in 1866, 111; births, 617,- of which 42 were illegitimate; deaths, 351,-of which 148 were at ages under 5 years, and 11 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60,1,197; births, 6,167; deaths, 4,053. The places of worship in 1851 were 14 of the Church of England, with 6,109 sittings; 3 of In dependents, with 1,150 s.; 18 of Baptists, with 4,458 s.; 2 of Quakers, with 430 s.; 3 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 360 s.; 5 of Primitive Methodists, with 620 s.; and 1 of Wesleyan Methodist Reformers, with 143 s. The schools in 1851 were 27 public day schools, with 1,783 scholars; 47 private day schools, with 892 s.; 33 Sun day schools, with 3,367 s.; and 2 evening schools for adults, with 60 s.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town a parish, a subdistrict, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Amersham AP/CP       Amersham SubD       Amersham RegD/PLU       Buckinghamshire AncC
Place names: AGMONDESHAM     |     AMERSHAM
Place: Amersham

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