Amersham Market Hall

The town received a royal charter, allowing it to hold markets, from King John in 1200.[2] For several centuries the market took the form of a series of stalls in an area which extended from the High Street in the west to Broadway in the east until a medieval market hall was erected in Broadway in the early 17th century.[3] A series of seditious papers were posted in the building in 1653.[3] After the old structure became dilapidated, the local member of parliament, Sir William Drake, who lived at Shardeloes, decided to construct a more substantial market building for the benefit of the town: the site he selected was in the High Street, to the west of the original building.[4]

The new building was designed in the neoclassical style, built in red brick with stone dressings and was completed in 1682.[1] It was arcaded on the ground floor so that markets could be held, with an assembly room on the first floor.[1] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with six bays facing onto the south side of the High Street: this elevation featured a row of casement windows on the first floor with a coat of arms of the Drake family in the centre.[1] There were quoins at the corners, a modillioned cornice at roof level and an octagonal wooden cupola above.[1] An inscription stated that the bell in the cupola was manufactured by a Christopher Hudson.[4] A village lock-up for petty criminals was installed in the north-east corner of the building at an early stage, a water pump was erected in 1785 and a horse-drawn fire station was installed in the arcaded area in the late 19th century.[4] Trade guild meetings, school classes, magistrates' court hearings and political meetings were all held in the assembly room.[5]

After significant population growth, partly due to its status as a market town, the area became a rural district with the market hall as the council's meeting place in 1894.[6] It was restored in 1911 at the expense of the then lord of the manor, William Wykeham Tyrrwhitt-Drake, and a plaque, bearing the inscription "Restored 1911 W. W. T. D." was installed below the coat of arms on the High Street elevation.[4][7]

The new council acquired ownership of the building, which became known as the "Town Hall",[8][9] from the Drake family.[5] It was used as a recruiting station for Kitchener's Army at the start of the First World War.[5] Civic meetings continued to be held in the assembly room on the first floor of the building until 1931 when the council moved to Elmodesham House in the High Street.[10] The building was used by the BBC as a filming location for its comedy series, Cuckoo, in 2013.[11]

• Grade II* listed buildings in Chiltern