The earliest recorded Amersham brewer was Giles Watkins who died in 1636. There is a persistent, probably incorrect, story that monks from Missenden Abbey were brewing beer commercially in the town in the 15th century, but no written evidence for this has been found. The Victoria History of the County of Buckinghamshire dates the inn from 1620, but late 16th century seems a more likely date of origin and wall paintings in one of the bedrooms seem to confirm this.
16TH CENTURY ENGLISH TAVERN KEEPER COSTUME SERIES
A series of fires at the Inn destroyed much of the original oak framing, but some timbers have survived and are said to date from the 16th century.
The present Crown Hotel had its origins as a timber-framed inn which was constructed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I on a site on the south side of the Market Square opposite the junction with Church Street. The first coach is known to have come through Amersham in 1662. The population remained fairly static at 900 to 1000 inhabitants until the 17th century, but despite the dreadful state of the roads, an increasing number of people came through the town and inns became necessary. Uxbridge to Hemel Hempstead via Copperkins Lane and Chesham.London to Aylesbury & Banbury via the Wendover gap.Amersham was at a crossroads of three significant trade routes:. By 1300 Amersham had become prosperous enough to become a Borough and the burgesses sent representatives to the parliament of King Edward I. A HISTORY OF THE CROWN HOTEL IN AMERSHAMĪt the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066, Amersham had a population estimated as just over two hundred and was an isolated village community, mostly working in agriculture on a Manorial estate, with five smaller hamlets on minor estates in the surrounding area listed in the Domesday book.īy 1200, when King John granted a weekly market and an annual fair here to the Earl of Essex, the population had grown considerably with most of the houses being on the south side of the one long street with burgage plots, many of these being occupied by tradesmen. This article by Dr Michael Brooks was published in the Amersham Society/Amersham Museum newsletter and is reproduced with permission. To close the pictures, just click on one. Then click on forward or back arrows at the foot of each photograph. Crown Inn Yard by William Monk c1900Īn account in a local paper in 1859 below shows that the Squire had a twice-yearly meeting here to collect rents from his tenants.Ĭlick on any of the photographs below to enlarge it and to see the description. There is said to be a ghost of a grey lady in old fashioned costume which has been seen in some bedrooms. A maid has appeared in one of the rooms and has been known to pack guest’s suitcases – was she a lady’s maid? Another woman silently goes up the stairs and through a door which usually creaks. One ghost shouts ‘Get Out Now’ and another has been seen several times when the pub is empty, leaning against one of the old posts.
Some say that there are as many as seven ghosts here. More recently the bedroom scene of the film ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ was shot here.Ĭlick on this link to see a leaflet from 1937 from the series Tales of Old Inns, No.4 The Crown at Amersham Ghosts in The Crown?
When the cockatoo died in the following year, said to be at an age of 118 years, a local taxidermist preserved him and for many years he was on display in the Crown Hotel bar. The only casualties were two cats, including the Persian cat which was the cockatoo’s companion. The bird squawked loudly and alerted the staff and guests to the danger so that they were all able to escape. In December 1935, the Crown Hotel was nearly destroyed in a dangerous fire. This Sulphur Crested Cockatoo was a local hero. (See sale particulars in the photo gallery below).
The Crown was bought by the Drake family in 1728 and was sold in 1928, when it was purchased by the sitting tenant, Trust Houses Limited, for the sum of £5,000. Part of what is now the bar of the Crown was, in the early 20 th century, a separate shop with living quarters, Howell’s, a haberdashery/millinery store run by a Miss Hayward. It has a 16 th century wall painting of Elizabethan royal arms. It had been a coaching inn and a post house. The Crown Hotel was originally built in 16 th century, had several fires and was partly rebuilt early in the 19 th century, when slates were used for the roof as they can be less steep which increased the headroom in the bedrooms upstairs.
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