Chesham Bois (traditionally , but now more commonly ) is a village in the
Chiltern Hills
The Chiltern Hills is a chalk escarpment in England.
The area, northwest of London, covers stretching from Goring-on-Thames in the southwest to Hitchin in the northeast - across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and Bedfordshire. ...
, in
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
, England, adjacent to both
Amersham
Amersham ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, in the Chiltern Hills, northwest of central London, from Aylesbury and from High Wycombe. Amersham is part of the London commuter belt.
...
and
Chesham.
History
Initially a
hamlet in the
parish of
Chesham, the
manor
Manor may refer to:
Land ownership
*Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England
*Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism
*Man ...
was assessed at 1½
hides in the reign of
King Edward the Confessor.
The estate belonged to a brother of
King Harold, who was killed with him at the
Battle of Hastings, and
William the Conqueror probably gave this "royal" land to his own half-brother,
Odo, Bishop of Bayeux
Odo of Bayeux (died 1097), Earl of Kent and Bishop of Bayeux, was the maternal half-brother of William the Conqueror, and was, for a time, second in power after the King of England.
Early life
Odo was the son of William the Conqueror's mother ...
. The village gets its name from the de Bosco family (the French version of which was "de Bois") and by 1213 in the reign of
King John King John may refer to:
Rulers
* John, King of England (1166–1216)
* John I of Jerusalem (c. 1170–1237)
* John Balliol, King of Scotland (c. 1249–1314)
* John I of France (15–20 November 1316)
* John II of France (1319–1364)
* John I o ...
a William du Bois was holding the manor.
By about 1430, in the reign of
Henry VI, the manor had been acquired by the Cheynes of
Chenies who remained for over 300 years, before conveying the manor to the
Duke of Bedford in 1735.
Chesham Bois House, the site of the manor, was the subject of an
archaeological
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
excavation by television programme ''
Time Team'', which was broadcast in the United Kingdom on
Channel 4 in March 2007.
Famous people
Famous people born in Chesham Bois include the crime writer and composer
Edmund Crispin; Lieutenant Commander
Peter Scawen Watkinson Roberts
Peter Scawen Watkinson Roberts, (28 July 1917 – 8 December 1979) was a Royal Navy officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
...
, who was awarded the
Victoria Cross for gallantry in the face of the enemy during
World War II; and
Mervyn King, former governor of the
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...
. Chesham Bois was for a time, home to artist
William Monk
Inspector William Monk is a fictional character created by the writer Anne Perry and hero of a series of books.
Monk was born in Northumberland shortly before the Victorian era, accession of Queen Victoria, the son of a fisherman. Before he jo ...
.
Today
The village contains two churches: the
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
church of St. Leonard's (started in the 12th century) and the
Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour (built in 1915 and extended in 1953). Chesham Bois
C of E School (1893)
is located down Bois Lane, a mixed primary school with over 200 pupils. The Beacon School is also located in the village and is an independent
preparatory school educating over 400 boys. Also located in the village is Our Lady's Roman Catholic Combined School which is opposite the church of the same name. Elangeni School is situated at the end of Woodside Avenue and is a
mixed state school. A sycamore and ash wood and common is the site of a cricket pavilion, as well as being the site for the biennial village fete.
Although "two hundred years ago it was in the depths of the country, a small village with no more than twenty-four houses",
today some of Chesham Bois merges into
Amersham-on-the-Hill
Amersham ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, in the Chiltern Hills, northwest of central London, from Aylesbury and from High Wycombe. Amersham is part of the London commuter belt.
...
.
References
External links
Pictures of Chesham BoisAmersham Museum
{{authority control
Villages in Buckinghamshire
Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire