Coleshill (formerly Stoke) is a village and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...
within
Chiltern district
Chiltern District was one of four local government districts of Buckinghamshire in south central England from 1974 to 2020. It was named after the Chiltern Hills on which the region sits.
The main towns in the district were Amersham and Chesh ...
in
Buckinghamshire, England. It is south of
Amersham and north of
Beaconsfield.
History
The village name is
Anglo Saxon in origin, and means 'Coll's hill', though it has only been known by this name since the early 16th century. It appears as 'Colshull' on
John Speed's maps in the early 17th century. Previously it was known as 'Stoke'. In 1844 the village was
transferred from Hertfordshire to Buckinghamshire by the
Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844
The Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 (7 & 8 Vict. c. 61), which came into effect on 20 October 1844, was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which eliminated many outliers or exclaves of counties in England and Wales for civil purposes. ...
.
From 1919 to 1939, the village was home to the Coleshill Convalescent Home, officially opened on 27 June 1919 by Lady Portman. It had 12 beds for soldiers wounded in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
Facilities
The village has a junior school (Coleshill Church of England Infant School), community hall, two pubs (''The Red Lion'' http://www.theredlioncoleshill.pub and ''The Harte & Magpies''), a tennis club with two courts, and a cricket club. A small play park exists in Hill Meadow.
The village has a pond which is notable for the presence of Starfruit, ''
Damasonium alisma
''Damasonium alisma'' is a species of flowering marsh plant known by the common name of starfruit. Its native range includes parts of Great Britain, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Kazakhstan.
''Damasonium a ...
'', which is found at only a few locations in Buckinghamshire and
Surrey in Southern England. The pond is centrally located and while the village does have a Common, it is rather hidden from view.
Notable buildings
All Saints Church was built of flint and stone in 1861.
The village includes Georgian villas and some 1809 cottages with bottle ends set into the upper walls for decoration.
The site of the long vanished manor house where
Edmund Waller
Edmund Waller, FRS (3 March 1606 – 21 October 1687) was an English poet and politician who was Member of Parliament for various constituencies between 1624 and 1687, and one of the longest serving members of the English House of Commons.
S ...
was born is nearby. The house known as 'Wallers Oak' was built in 1909 as a vicarage for All Saints Church.
Just outside the village is
The Water Tower a 30 metre (100') tall structure which once fed water to
Amersham but is now a residential property. This development was the subject of season one, episode four of the TV show
Grand Designs[ List of Grand Designs episodes]
References
External links
Villages in Buckinghamshire
History of Hertfordshire
Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire
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