10 incredibly interesting Amersham facts that you might not know
Amersham
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The Chiltern town is rich in history - from heretics to haunted houses
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Buckinghamshire Live
Amersham dates back to pre-Anglo-Saxon times meaning it has a rich history and plenty of interesting facts.

The town was a hub of religious dissent in the 1500s during the rule of King Henry VIII and it was never shy of controversy.

It was also the first stop out of London on the route to Birmingham and has had many coaching inns over the years providing a room for weary travellers.

We have compiled some of the most interesting facts about Amersham below.

Seven religious dissenters were burned at the stake in the 1520s

Before Henry VIII split from the Catholic Church and set up the Church of England seven Amersham dissenters were burned at the stake for criticising Catholicism and supporting a reform of Christianity.

There were six men and one woman - William Tylsworth, John Scrivener, Thomas Barnard, James Morden, Robert Rave, Thomas Holmes and Joan Norman.

A memorial was erected for them in 1931 and it includes the line: “They died for the principles of religious liberty, for the right to read and interpret the Holy Scriptures and to worship God according to their consciences as revealed through God's Holy Word".

The town was a ‘rotten borough’

From 1625 Amersham sent two MPs to the House of Commons meaning it was considered as a ‘rotten borough’.

These were areas that had a very small electorate which would lead to the MP having an unrepresentative amount of influence in the affairs of the state given the number of people they represented.

However, this was all changed with the Reform Act in 1932 which redistributed the power across the UK.

A famous location in Four Weddings and a Funeral is in the town

Locals’ favourite The Crown Inn was used in the Richard Curtis film Four Weddings and a Funeral.

The bedroom scene with Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell was filmed in Room 101 at the ‘modern coaching inn’.

The Kings Arms in Amersham was also used in the film for the interiors of the Boatman Inn.

Amersham is mentioned in the classic novel 1984

George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 mentions Amersham when Parsons is telling Winston about how his children helped to capture a ‘foreigner’.

The book reads: “They kept on his tail for two hours, right through the woods, and then, when they got into Amersham, handed him over to the patrols.”

In the story, the children start to follow him after they spot he is wearing ‘funny shoes’ so deduce that he couldn’t be a local.

Woodrow High House is ‘haunted’ by a ‘Green Lady’

Woodrow High House is said to have the ghost of the ‘Green Lady’ Helena Stanhope who committed suicide after her fiance, Sir Peter Bostock, was killed by the King’s men.

On July 6 1685 King James II and the rebel James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth fought against each other at the Battle of Sedgemoor.

However, Monmouth was defeated and his supporters fled including Sir Peter Bostock.

Apparently, he hid in a grotto in the grounds of the home but his hiding spot was uncovered and he was murdered.

The last woman hanged in Britain was buried in Amersham

Ruth Ellis was the last woman to be hanged in Britain after she murdered her abusive partner David Blakely.

Ellis had an incredibly difficult life which included sex work, miscarriages and abuse.

People have questioned whether she should have received the sentence she did because of the involvement of a man called David Cussen who, according to Ellis, drove her to the murder after drinking alcohol together and handed her the loaded gun.

Amersham was a place for fleeing Jewish musicians in the 1930s

German composer and conductor Walter Goehr and Polish composer Józef Żmigrod (his stage name was Allan Gray) both fled to the UK in the 1930s after the rise of Nazi Germany.

Both of the men initially moved to London before marrying their partners and settling down in Amersham.

Like many emigres Żmigrod was arrested as an ‘enemy alien’ and forced to live on the Isle of Man during the war.

A few famous faces were born in Amersham

Comedians Katy Brand and Paul Foot were both raised in Amersham and both went on to Oxford University.

Actor Bill Pertwee who was most famous for playing antagonist Chief ARP Warden Hodges in dad’s Army was also born in the town.

While lyricist and author Tim Rice also grew up in the area and has gone on to co-write Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Evita, Chess and The Lion King amongst others.

The town has a truly unique Y-shaped house

A modernist home, ‘High and Over’ started to be built in Amersham in 1929 and was completed in 1931.

It was designed by Amyas D Connell for the head of classical sculpture at the British Museum, Bernard Ashmole.

The home has been branded an ‘aeroplane house’ by locals because the propeller Y shape or because the two canopies made people think of a bi-plane.

Amersham is derived from Old English

Amersham dates back to pre-Anglo-Saxon times and the name actually comes from the Old English for ‘Ealhmund’s village (hām).

Then it was known as Agmodesham before changing to Elmodesham by 1086 when it was recorded in the Domesday Book.