Chesham
Chesham is a town in the Chiltern Hills, Buckinghamshire, the fourth largest in the county, and is situated in the Chess Valley. It has a tube station, which is the last station on the spur off the Metropolitan Line. The first recorded reference to Chesham, or Cestreham, was in the will of Lady Elgiva, although there is evidence of Roman settlement in the area including the planting of grapevines near the Balks and a villa down stream at Latimer. Chesham has a long history of religious diversity, such as the persecuted Lollards of the 15th century and the famous bible translator Thomas Harding, martyred on White Hill, near Dungrove Farm, in 1532. The 18th and 19th centuries saw the rapid growth of Baptists, Methodists and Spiritualists and the later 20th century saw the establishment of a sizable Muslim community. In the 19th century Chesham was known for its "four B's"; boots, brushes, beer and baptists. All these industries declined and the main product of the town has become commuters. Although most people in Buckinghamshire pronounce the town as "Chesh-um", some residents insist on pronouncing it "Chess-am". The Bovingdon stack lies above the town.
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