Both the buildings below are at the West end of Old Amersham and are listed grade II.
Bury Mill
It has been Ambers of Amersham since 1979 and previously it was the Mill Stream Restaurant. It was built as a timber-framed mill on the Misbourne in the 17th and 18th centuries, possibly on the site of an earlier mill. In 1637 the ownership was transferred from the Earl of Bedford to William Drake of the “Water mill in Amersham late in the occupation of Tobias Sanders together with a messuage barns stables and outhouses to the said mill adjoining …. with all leasowes pastures and one meadow contaning 3 acres leased by the said Edward Earl of Bedford to said Tobias Sanders, Henry Watkins and Bridgett Watkins.”
The mill was run in the 18th century by Robert Eeles, a Quaker who lived in what is now Hinton House and is decribed in legal documents as a “mealman”. There is a recess for a waterwheel at the back. It was owned by the Tyrwhitt-Drake family and was sold by them in 1928 (see auction particulars below) to Captain Millard. Part was used as an antique shop named Vyse Millard and the main part was converted into the Mill Stream café in 1934, when a dance floor and galleries were added. It was then run by Sylvia Taylor.
The pages for Bury End and Bury Farm are shown in the column to the left (or below on mobile devices)
The Chequers public house
It has an attached stable wing and was built in the 18th century. The brick is painted brick and there is an old tiled roof as well as roofed verandah to the ground floor. The first recorded tenants were Thomas Boddington in 1756 and Hannah Boddington in 1760. The Wellers bought the Chequers in the early 19th century. (See below the auction particulars for the sale in 1929 by Weller’s Brewery.) In the 19th century there are records of Thomas Morten and later John Morten having a brewery at Bury End opposite The Chequers.
Listen to Gerald Lee talking in 2004 to Diana Goodbody about his grandfather who was the road sweeper from The Chequers to the Ivy House R1_0011
Ghosts in The Chequers?
The pub was exorcised 3 times between 1953 and 1982, but it is said that there are still sudden drops in temperature when the pub becomes icy cold and dogs become agitated. A white hooded figure appears and moaning and screaming noises can be heard. One theory is that this is to do with the Amersham Martyrs who were burnt to death in 1511 and 1521 after refusing to recant the beliefs and are said to have been locked up on that site before their deaths. Another hooded figure is thought to be the warder who accompanied the Martyrs. There is also a grey woman who has been seen wandering around outside the Chequers, but she may be more to do with Ambers, next door, which some think was previously a silk mill. Below are two accounts of the ghost of Chequers in the Bucks Examiner. See also the Pathé News film from 1964 called “Dig That Ghost”!
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