Chesham Timeline

c.8000 BC	Mesolithic people establish a camp in the area of Stratford's Yard.
c.2500 BC	Neolithic farming settlement in the area of Stratford's Yard.
c.1800 BC	Bronze age people settle in the valley. Defensive sites on the hills around.
c.500 BC	Iron Age Belgic people of the Catuvellauni tribe present in and around Chesham. Defensive sites at Grove Farm, Orchard Leigh and Cholesbury.
c.AD 150-400	Romano-British villa (farm) at Latimer and occupation in the area of Dawes Close, Chesham.
mid-5^th century	Chesham site abandoned.
7^th century	Settlements at Missenden and Cholesbury. Caedwalla takes refuge in the 'deserts of Chiltern'.
7^th-10^th century	Chesham settled by the Saxons - they give their names to many places in the area.
c.970	The Lady Elgiva mentions her estate at ‘Caesteleshamm’ [a water meadow by a heap of stones] in her will and the course of the Isne [now the Chess] is diverted to power Lord’s Mill.
1086	Domesday Book records five entries for ‘Cestreham’, including four mills.
12^th century	Building of St Mary’s Church.
1257	Royal charter granted by Henry III for a weekly market.
1532	Thomas Harding burned for heresy at a ‘dell going to Botley’.
1538	Chesham parish records begin.
17^th century	Non-conformists hold house meetings in Chesham.
c.1650	Roger Crabbe, the ‘Mad Hatter’ of Chesham, has a shop in the High Street.
1701	Particular Baptists begin holding services in Chesham.
early 18^th cent.	Chesham woollen industry declines.
1796	Friends Meeting House (Quakers) in Bellingdon Road built.
1829	Robert Webb sets up Chesham's first brush making factory.
1843	Arthur Liberty, founder of Liberty’s stores, born in Chesham.
mid-19^th cent.	Chesham lace-making in decline and paper mills close down.
1851	Over 700 straw plait makers working in Chesham and the hamlets.
1864	Christ Church, Waterside opened.
c.1864	Silk mill at Waterside closed.
1869	George Gilbert Scott’s restoration of St Mary’s Church.
1870	Cottage Hospital opens.
1871	Typhoid epidemic – 29 people die in the space of a few weeks.
1878	Chesham Town Football Club founded.
1887	Sewerage Works at Milk Hall, Latimer Road completed.
1889	The Metropolitan Railway comes to Chesham.
1894	Formation of Chesham Urban District Council.
late 19^th cent.	Large numbers employed in the wooden ware trade and boot and shoe manufacture moves from home to factory production.
1914	First council houses built by Chesham UDC.
1929	Start of the Pond Park housing development.
1946	Chesham High School founded.
1957	Formation of the Chesham Society.
1960	Electrification of the railway.
1974	Formation of Chesham Town Council.
1990	Completion of town centre pedestrianisation.
1998	Opening of the new Elgiva Theatre and the new Town Hall.
2004	Chesham Museum (The Stables) opens.

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by SMG