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A Few Facts
The first written mention of Chesham was in 970 AD when Lady Elgiva bequeathed some land in her will. She was the wife of King Edwy, who was responsible for diverting the river Chess to power the original Lord's Mill. This canalised landscape can still be seen alongside Chesham Moor and Waterside, even though most of the mills have been allowed to disappear.
Chesham has long been known for Boots, Beer, Brushes and Baptists! Early Industries in the Middle Ages included craftsmen who made shoes, gloves and breeches from locally cured leather. This developed into a clothing industry with weavers, dyers, tailors and a local mill converted to fulling cloth. Later industries included straw-plaiting, chair-bodging, wood-turning and lace making. In the 19th century work became more industrialised with small factories specialising in boots, brushes and wood ware, particularly domestic and dairy utensils, shovels (including toy buckets, spades and hoops!). There were also cottage industries based on the river Chess itself, growing Watercress and breeding 'Aylesbury' duck
In 1889 there were a total of seventy licensed premises in Chesham (with 16 in Waterside alone).
Chesham sits at the confluence of several valleys, many containing small streams feeding the River Chess and all the Corn Mills have mill ponds with overflow channels. As a consequence one is never very far from water in Chesham as much of the streams are now in culverts. For instance the shop frontages for much of the High Street are built directly above the stream and this can cause some entertaining problems when doing maintenance or fitting new shop fronts!
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