Nos. 46, 48 and 50 (St James’s House, Lynwood & Sherwood) were built by Mr Clement Macmichael Cheese whose father owned Elmodesham House next door. “Mac” Cheese bought the plot of land from his father in 1903 fior £25 and it was described as the “Nut Garden” of the family house. However the building date is not certain as the three houses are in the 1901 census, although they could have been old cottages which were then rebuilt before the 1911 census. In 1911 no. 46 was occupied by Henry Fuller, a draper, probably the same one who had the shop in Whielden St; no. 48 was occcupied by George Darlington, the builder; and no. 50 by a widowed retired housekeeper called Annie Cameron, who was also there in 1901. No. 50 has an unusual overhanging upper window. The author Arthur Machen lived at Lynwood from 1929 for some years.
The 1892 newspaper article below reports on earlier redevelopment of the same site.
No. 52 was built by “Mac” Cheese for himself, having bought the land and the old building on it from the Tyrwhitt-Drakes in 1907. This was where Thomas Ayres the blacksmith used to live. By 1911 “Mac” was living here and was still here in 1935. It has a first floor bay window like no. 50. H G Keen the builder bought it in 1952. Some of the garden was sold to Amersham RDC in 1967 and more to the developers of Thornhill Close in 1987.
No. 54 is a listed grade II timber-framed building from the 17th century or earlier, with a new façade added in the early 19th century. William Beeson, a cowman, lived here in 1911.
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