Chesham Bois
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Chesham Bois (traditionally pronounced chess-am boyz, after the nearby River Chess, but now more commonly pronounced chesh-am boyz) is a village in Buckinghamshire, England, adjacent to both Amersham and Chesham.
Initially a hamlet in the parish of Chesham, the village gets its name from the de Bosco family who owned the manor of Chesham in the reign of King John. The French version of the family name was 'de Bois'. Later, in the reign of Henry VII, the manor came into the possession of the Cheynes of Chenies, after which it passed with the rest of the Cheyne estates to the Earl of Bedford.
Chesham Bois House, the site of the manor, was the subject of an archaeological excavation by Time Team, which was broadcast in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 in March 2007.
The village contains two churches: the Anglican church of St. Leonard's (started in the 1100s) and the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady (built in 1915 and extended in 1953). Chesham Bois C of E Combined School 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. Elangeni School is situated at the end of Woodside Avenue and is a mixed state school. A forty acre sycamore and ash wood and common is the site of the local cricket pavilion, as well as being the site for the annual village fete.
Today some of Chesham Bois merges into Amersham-on-the-Hill. It still remains a particularly splendid part of the Chiltern Hills.
[edit] External & related links
- British History Online: Parish of Chesham Bois
- Chesham Bois Cricket Club
- Chesham Bois House
- Chesham Bois Lawn Tennis and Squash Club
- Chesham Bois Parish Council
- Chesham Bois Village
- Chess Valley Archaeological & Historical Society
- The Francis Frith Collection: Chesham Bois
- Location map (Multimap)
- Pictures of Chesham Bois
- St. Leonard's Church, Chesham Bois
- Time Team in Chesham Bois (Discussion on Time Team Forum)
