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General
Amersham is a town of two parts, the Old Town which looks much as it would have done in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the later Amersham on the Hill. The division occurred due to the location of the Metropolitan Railway and later the extension of London's Metropolitan line. In the 2001 Census the parish population was 17,719.
The history of the area dates back to at least Roman times when there was a villa in the area (believed to be buried beneath Shardeloes Lane). The town itself dates back to Saxon times when it was called Agmodesham. By the time of the Domesday survey the town had become Elmodesham and Elnodesham and had six manors, one of which belonged to the wife of Edward the Confessor. In 1200 King John granted the town a market and fair, the latter still being held on the 19th and 20th of September each year.
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The Chequers
It would be fair to say that the Chequers Inn in Amersham is the most haunted site in the town. This is not just because of the frequency of occurrences but also because there are nine ghosts that haunt the inn. Most of the ghosts are those of the Amersham Martyrs who were kept at the inn under guard before they were taken out and burned at the stake.
In the early 1500s the Roman Catholic Church dictated all aspects of religious life, but some did not agree with this. Protestant dissenters, nicknamed Lollards, wanted the Bible printed in English even though this was forbidden by the church. They also could not come to terms with how paying large sums of money to the church in Rome would remit their sins in the eyes of God. The movement originated with John Wycliffe who was a priest and academic at Oxford. In about 1379, he undertook a translation of the Bible into the English language; this brought the wrath of the church down upon him.
In 1399 when Henry IV became king he passed a statute which gave authority to the Bishops, this allowed them to condemn people to be burned at the stake if they were found guilty of heresy. As an example, and to quell further protests, three men from Amersham, William Turnour, Walter Yonge and John Hazelwoode, along with John Fynche of Missenden, were all executed. After this things became quiet as the movement had moved underground.
In 1506, Bishop Smith of Lincoln initiated an inquiry into religious dissent in Amersham. As a result William Tylsworth was charged, tried and sentenced to death. Together with six other men Tylsworth was to be burned at the stake at nearby Rectory Wood. Overnight the men were kept locked up in an outbuilding of the Chequers Inn guarded by a man named Osman. The next day they were led to their deaths but the authorities had one more act of cruelty to bestow. At sword point Tylsworth's own daughter Joan was forced to light the fire that was to kill her father and make a martyr of him.
It comes as no surprise that the moans and groans of the condemned men have continued to haunt the inn ever since. At one time the groans were so loud that it was almost impossible to sleep in the building. In December 1963 the landlord, Mr Campbell-Wilson, was woken at 04:30 by screams coming from his daughters' bedroom. He rushed into the room to find both girls, eight year old Julie and eleven year old Maralyn, lying in bed trembling with fear. Julie had seen a white hooded figure walk around the dressing table and out of the door. When their father had arrived the door was open but it was normally kept shut because of their dog. He searched the building but could find no one and all was secure. They had only been there six weeks. At the back of the inn lies a room with an old wooden door, this is the chamber where the martyrs were held. Today the moans have diminished but still they continue. Fifty years after their deaths the English translation of the Bible was adopted by the church.
One other room in the inn is never let out to guests as it is haunted by a hooded woman dressed all in white. She is believed to be Tylsworth's daughter Joan, grieving for the father she was forced to kill. Another ghost haunts the bar and this is said to be that of Osman who is forced to return to the place where he sent the innocent martyrs to their deaths. His cloaked figure is seen near the fireplace. A new barman saw the figure and asked the landlord about the man dressed in black that he had seen trying to climb the chimney. Sudden temperature drops have also been felt in the inn and dogs become highly agitated.
The inn was built in 1450 and has been exorcised three times in 1953, 1963 and 1982 but with little effect.
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Station Road
In 1974 the site now occupied by Tesco, just of the London Road, was being used by Bowyers as a sausage and pie factory. It was early on New Years Day and Security guard John Bushell was standing at the southern end of Station Road with his guard dog Max. Suddenly Max went stiff and started growling. When John looked round at him he was staring up Station Road. It was then that John became aware of a man walking slowly across the road from the west. He described the man as wearing a high-collared coat and with his long hair tied back at the nape of his neck. John's first impression was that the man was from the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century.
The man, with his head bowed as if deep in thought, crossed the road to a green area on the east which contained a single yew tree. The man proceeded to walk behind the tree and John waited for him to reappear on the far side but he didn't. After a while John and Max went to investigate the tree but there was no sign of the man and there was no where he could have gone.
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