Amersham, or Agmondesham (St. Mary)
The parish contains by measurement 7855 acres of land, in general hilly, and resting upon a sub-soil of chalk, flint, and clay: the hamlet of Coleshill is included in it. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £48. 16. l½., and in the gift of Thos. Tyrwhitt Drake, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £1500, and there are about 123 acres of glebe. The church is a spacious edifice of brick coated with stucco; the chancel and an adjoining mausoleum contain several interesting monuments, exhibiting some beautiful specimens of sculpture, by the hand of Bacon. There are two places of worship for Baptists, and one for the Society of Friends. A free grammar school was instituted by Dr. Robert Chaloner, canon of Windsor, who, by his will dated June 20th, 1620, endowed it with £20 per annum, since augmented to more than £80; and in an apartment adjoining the grammar schoolroom is a writing-school, established in 1699, by Lord Cheyne, and endowed with a rent-charge of £20. An almshouse for six aged widows was founded by Sir Wm. Drake, Bart., and endowed by him in 1667: the income, arising from land and property in the funds, was augmented with a bequest of £300 by Wm. Drake, jun., in 1796, and now amounts to about £150. A fund of £87 per annum, arising from land and the three per cents., is applied, under the will of William Tothill, of Shardeloes, in apprenticing children. The union of Amersham comprises 10 parishes or places, and contains a population of 18,207: the workhouse is a good building in the Elizabethan style of architecture, erected at a cost of nearly £7000; it stands on the road to Wycombe, and will accommodate 350 paupers.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.