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Old Amersham
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The King's Head Pub

Area Guides: Old Amersham
Location: Old Amersham
County:
Buckinghamshire

Telephone: .
eMail: .


Full Description: The Domesday Book of 1086 records Amersham as ‘Elmodesham’ with three water mills in use along the banks of the River Misbourne. It was described in about 1540 as ‘a right pretty market town of one street built in timber’. Amersham became an important staging point for coaches from London to the Midlands via Aylesbury and you can still see the high arches which were built for the many old coaching inns which catered to the travellers and their horses.

Nowadays, visitors are attracted by the Old Town’s unusual charm and character, its variety of architecture spanning five centuries, with shops, houses, churches and pubs all mixed together. Amersham-on-the-Hill, where most of the modern building took place around the railway after it opened in 1892, is separated by woods from the Old Town.

The most prominent feature of the High Street is the red-brick Market Hall, with its rounded arches, wooden turret and clock-tower. Within the open space beneath, the market is held that was granted by a charter of 1200 in the reign of King John. A two day fair was also granted, and Amersham Fair continues to transform the High Street as it has done for nearly 800 years on 19th and 20th September, the patronal feast days of the parish church.

Amersham was an active centre of Dissent from the 14th century onwards and some inhabitants suffered martyrdom. In the 17th century the town was the home of prominent Quakers who suffered great persecution. A tablet on the north side of the Market Hall gives an outline of the town’s history. Around the corner is a lead pump from 1749, and under the arches is the original town lock-up.

Two cottage industries employing many Amersham folk up to the end of the 19th century were lacemaking and straw plait. Black lace became a speciality of the town, while fine straw plait was produced for the Luton hatmakers.

Amersham’s historic Old Town successfully blends the beauty of the old with the practicality of the new. Today, its enchanting shops stock everything from antiques to contemporary fashion. It has been described as a unique jewel in the crown of Buckinghamshire.



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