A rare opportunity to discover Chesham’s heritage

On Sunday 8th September Chesham will participate in Heritage Open Day, the country’s largest community heritage festival. Established 30 years ago it has been managed by the National Trust since 2011. Thousands of organisations, community groups and individual volunteers organise a fantastic range of site openings and events which jointly attract millions of visitors. Free access will be offered to places that are either rarely open to the public or normally charge for admission.

This year Chesham’s participation is being jointly organised by Chesham Town Council and The Chesham Society. Twenty venues around the Town will be freely open and available to the public. These include St Mary’s Church where you will be able to visit the belfry, The United Reformed Church celebrating 300 years of worship, the late Georgian Friends Meeting House and the Mosque.
Also opening will be places of leisure and recreation including Chesham 1879, one of England’s oldest tennis clubs, The George Piggin allotments in the Old Town on the site of the original workhouse gardens and the Cameron Road allotments founded in 1910. In Germain Street, Weylands House, the old town workhouse will also be open. Both the Chesham 1879 Tennis Club and Cameron Road allotments will be offering refreshments. You will also be able to visit the Temperance Hall, otherwise known as the Little Theatre by the Park, in Church Street which is being given a new lease of life as part of the Elgiva family with music, free activities for children and an historic display.

Other venues opening will include Chesham Museum at the Town Hall where there will be an exhibition celebrating the 400th anniversary of Weedon Almshouses which is opening its gardens on the same day. The Museum is also organising a guided walk through some of the old parts of the town. Different aspects of the town’s life and history will be represented by the opening of Kevin Meayers Organ Builders in Bellingdon Road and nearby you can visit the Cemetery where the Old Hearse House will be open for an exhibition organised by the Friends of Chesham Cemetery. In Townsend Road you will be able to visit Workaid a local charity operating from the Old Boot Factory.

If you feel like a drink after visiting all these places, you can pop into Vault 17 cocktail bar, one of the newest venues in the High Street, where there will be a display explaining the retail heritage of the building. To discover more about the Chesham venues, visit www.heritageopendays.org.uk or https://www.chesham.gov.uk/council_events/heritage-open-day/