{{Short description|Village in Buckinghamshire, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}} {{Use British English|date=June 2025}} {{infobox UK place |country = England |static_image_name=File:St Leonard's Church, Chesham Bois.jpg |static_image_caption=St Leonard's Church, Chesham Bois |coordinates = {{coord|51.685|-0.605|display=inline,title}} |official_name= Chesham Bois | population = 3,117 | population_ref = (2011 Census)<ref>[http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=3&b=11121869&c=chesham+bois&d=16&e=62&g=6404282&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1359813569477&enc=1 Neighbourhood Statistics 2011 Census], Accessed 2 February 2013</ref> |unitary_england = [[Buckinghamshire Council|Buckinghamshire]] |lieutenancy_england = [[Buckinghamshire]] |region= South East England |constituency_westminster= [[Chesham and Amersham (UK Parliament constituency)|Chesham & Amersham]] |post_town= AMERSHAM |postcode_district = HP6 |postcode_area= HP |dial_code= 01494 |os_grid_reference= SU965995 }}
'''Chesham Bois''' (traditionally {{IPAc-en|ˌ|tʃ|ɛ|s|əm|_|ˈ|b|ɔɪ|z}} {{respell|CHESS|əm|_|BOYZ}}, but now more commonly {{IPAc-en|ˌ|tʃ|ɛ|ʃ|əm|_|ˈ|b|ɔɪ|z}} {{respell|CHESH|əm|_|BOYZ}}) is a village in the [[Chiltern Hills]], in [[Buckinghamshire]], England, adjacent to both [[Amersham]] and [[Chesham]].
==History== Initially a [[hamlet (place)|hamlet]] in the [[parish]] of [[Chesham]], the [[Manorialism|manor]] was assessed at 1½ [[hide (unit)|hides]] in the reign of [[King Edward the Confessor]].<ref name="BHO1"/> The estate belonged to a brother of [[Harold Godwinson|King Harold]], who was killed with him at the [[Battle of Hastings]], and [[William the Conqueror]] probably gave this "royal" land to his own half-brother, [[Odo of Bayeux|Odo, Bishop of Bayeux]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cheshamboishouse.co.uk/history_of_site.php|title=A history of Chesham Bois House|access-date=30 December 2007}}</ref> The village gets its name from the de Bosco family<ref>{{cite web|url=http://met.open.ac.uk/genuki/big/eng/bkm/CheshamBois/Index.html |title=mention of the name de Bosco in 1806 in "Magna Britannia" |access-date=30 December 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070817141043/http://met.open.ac.uk/genuki/big/eng/BKM/CheshamBois/Index.html |archive-date=17 August 2007 }}</ref> (the French version of which was "de Bois") and by 1213 in the reign of [[John of England|King John]] a William du Bois was holding the manor.<ref name="BHO1"/> By about 1430, in the reign of [[Henry VI of England|Henry VI]], the manor had been acquired by the Cheynes of [[Chenies]] who remained for over 300 years, before conveying the manor to the [[Duke of Bedford]] in 1735.<ref name="BHO1"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cb5.co.uk/annsemark.htm|title=Details of the Cheyne family links for Chesham Bois|access-date=30 December 2007}}</ref> Chesham Bois House, the site of the manor, was the subject of an [[archaeology|archaeological]] excavation by television programme ''[[Time Team]]'', which was broadcast in the United Kingdom on [[Channel 4]] in March 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/T/timeteam//2007_ches.html|title=The Cheyne gang|access-date=30 December 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://community.channel4.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8896096411/m/3170019757|title=Discussion on Time Team Forum|access-date=30 December 2007}}</ref>
During the 1920s and 30s, the [[Metropolitan Railway]]’s [[Amersham station]] was named “Amersham and Chesham Bois”.
==Notable people== Notable people born in Chesham Bois include the crime writer and composer [[Edmund Crispin]];<ref>{{cite ODNB | url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-31461 | isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 | doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/31461 | title=Montgomery, (Robert) Bruce [pseud. Edmund Crispin] (1921–1978), composer and detective novelist }}</ref> Lieutenant Commander [[Peter Scawen Watkinson Roberts]], who was awarded the [[Victoria Cross]] during World War II; and [[Mervyn King, Baron King of Lothbury|Mervyn King]], former governor of the [[Bank of England]]. Chesham Bois was for a time, home to artist [[William Monk (artist)|William Monk]],<ref>{{cite web| title = The Dial House, Chesham Bois| url = https://amershammuseum.org/history/chesham-bois/the-dial-house-chesham-bois/| website = Amersham Museum| date = 2022| access-date = 18 May 2022}}</ref> and The Grange, Bois Common (now demolished) was the long-time home of his father-in-law, the glass merchant [[Jules Wuidart]].<ref name="Amersham Museum">{{cite web |last1=Bailey |first1=Alison |title=William Monk |url=https://amershammuseum.org/history/people/20th-century/william-monk/ |website=Amersham Museum |access-date=18 October 2025}}</ref>
==Today== The village contains two churches: the [[Anglican]] [[church (building)|church]] of St. Leonard's (started in the 12th century) and the [[Roman Catholic]] Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour (built in 1915 and extended in 1953), which also houses the traditionalist [[Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chesham Bois - FSSP UK |url=https://fssp.org.uk/chesham/ |access-date=2023-10-02 |language=en}}</ref> Chesham Bois [[Christian school#United Kingdom|C of E School]] (1893)<ref name="BHO1"/> is located down Bois Lane, a mixed primary school with over 200 pupils. The Beacon School is also located in the village and is an independent [[Preparatory school (United Kingdom)|preparatory school]] educating over 400 boys. Also located in the village is Our Lady's Roman Catholic Combined School which is opposite the church of the same name. Elangeni School is situated at the end of Woodside Avenue and is a [[State-funded schools (England)|mixed state school]]. A {{convert|40|acre|m2|adj=on}} sycamore and ash wood and common is the site of a cricket pavilion, as well as being the site for the biennial village fete.
Although "two hundred years ago it was in the depths of the country, a small village with no more than twenty-four houses",<ref>{{cite journal | last = Hickin | first = Leonard | author-link = | title = Thomas Clarke of Chesham Bois | journal = [[Churchman (journal)|Churchman]] | volume = 84 | issue = 2 | pages = 130–3 | publisher = [[Church Society]] | location = [[Watford]] | date = 1970 | language = | url = https://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/churchman/084-02_130.pdf | jstor = | issn = 0009-661X | doi = }}</ref> today some of Chesham Bois merges into [[Amersham|Amersham-on-the-Hill]].
==References== {{reflist| refs= <ref name="BHO1">{{cite encyclopedia | last = | first = | author-link = | editor-last =Page | editor-first =William | title = Parishes: Chesham Bois | encyclopedia = A History of the County of Buckingham | volume = 3 | pages = 218–221 | publisher = Victoria County History | location = London | date = 1925 | url = http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/bucks/vol3/pp218-221}}</ref> }}
==External links== {{Commons category|Chesham Bois}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070404131600/http://www.amersham.org.uk/cheshambois/ Pictures of Chesham Bois] *[https://amershammuseum.org/history/chesham-bois/ Amersham Museum] {{Chiltern}}
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[[Category:Villages in Buckinghamshire]] [[Category:Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire]] [[Category:Cheney family]]