Chesham Bois offers a fascinating history which in every way reflects the rich history of England. Issues such as population, politics, economy, class, religion, sex and family life can be studied in the way the village has developed. And changes in Chesham Bois have been as momentous as any that took place elsewhere.

This chronology is merely an outline. Any historian wishing to add to it is most passionately encouraged. Please contact rebeccaleon@onetel.com

Prehistoric trade route to the south coast may have run through via Hollow Way Lane and Bois Lane

Roman villa nearby at Latimer but so far there is no trace of one here

1066 – Leofwine, Saxon lord of the manor here was killed at the Battle of Hastings. William the Conqueror gave Leofwine’s lands to his own half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux

1086 – manor recorded in Domesday Book as part of Chesham

1213 –manor owned by the du Bois family. They lived where Chesham Bois House stands. In this year William du Bois got permission to appoint a priest to his private chapel, now the chancel of St. Leonards Church. The du Bois name became attached to this area.

1281 – the manor passed from the du Bois. Belonged to a number of other families over the next 150 years

1433 – Chesham Bois had been acquired by the Cheyne family who owned it for 300 years. Many of them lived at the manor house y the church

1735 – After the death of the last Cheyne, the estate was bought by the Duke of Bedford

1799 – Duke of Bedford began selling land here to various purchasers but kept the lordship of the manor

1806 – Population: 135

1846 – Population 258

1892 – Metropolitan Railway reached Amersham-on-the-Hill. Easy ride to London possible

1894 – Chesham Bois Parish Council formed

1896 – Sale of Manor Farm on North Road. Some land becoming available as housing plots. Development of “village” began

1903 – Population approximately 760

Duke of Bedford sold the lordship of the manor to Mr. J. W. Garrett-Pegge who renamed his striking new house on the edge of Chesham Bois ‘Chesham Bois Manor’.

2004 – Population approximately 3,500

A great debt is owed to L. Elgar Pike and his book A History of Chesham Bois (1976) whose work gave us a much-valued starting point for this chronology. We are indebted to Roy and Anne Paton, local historians and residents who have fleshed out, corrected and updated data using recent research of their own and as part of the Chesham Bois Parish Map Group.

Much more about Chesham Bois and its people and natural history is in the book, Chesham Bois – A Celebration of the Village and its History (1999), and is available from the Chesham Bois Parish Council