Amersham

Amersham is a market town 27 miles north west of London, in the Chiltern Hills[?], England. Amersham is widely known because of a multinational pharamaceutical company, Amersham plc (now known as Nycomed-Amersham), that took its name from the town. Records of Amersham date back to pre-Saxon times, when it was known as Agmodesham, and by the time that the Domesday book was written at around 1086 it became known as Elmodesham. The Domesday entry is as follows:

 Geoffrey de Mandeville holds Amersham.  It answers for 7 1/2 hides.
 Land for 16 ploughs; in lordship 2 hides; 3 ploughs there.  14
 villagers with 4 smallholders have 9 ploughs; a further 4 possible.
 7 slaves; meadow for 16 ploughs; woodland 400 pigs.  The total value
 is and was £9; before 1066 £16.  Queen Edith held this manor.

Queen Edith is the wife of Edward the Confessor and sister of king Harold, and after her death in 1075 the land passed to William the Conqueror who granted it to Geoffrey de Mandeville[?].

Amersham is linked to London by the Metropolitan Line of London Underground, and is now the last station on its branch of this line. Much of this line is shared with the mainline railway service, which runs from Marylebone to Aylesbury.

Amersham is in two parts: Amersham on the Hill, which is close to the railway station, and Old Amersham, which contains St. Mary's, a delightful 13th century church, and several old inns.

Secondary schools in the town include Dr Challoner's Grammar School (a grammar school as the name suggests) and the Amersham School[?] (a secondary modern).

External link

• For more information see http://www.amersham.org.uk/.