Notes on a Holiday spent near Amersham, Bucks. 



By Hy. J. Turner, F.E.S. Read March 26th, 1903. 



The powers that be having arranged that the week originally 

 chosen for the Coronation of the King should be a vacation from 

 duties, I thought it would be a fine opportunity to spend a holiday 

 in the country, as usually at the end of June I am quite unable to 

 get away for more than two days at a time. The ground lying 

 between Amersham, Chesham, and Chenies has been visited by the 

 Society on two or three occasions for a few hours, and a prolonged 

 visit seemed to be desirable. I found a very comfortable and 

 reasonable lodging at Amersham Common, and from there my daily 

 excursions were centred. 



As you no doubt already know, the district is a portion of the 

 southern slopes, spurs, and valleys of the Chiltern Hills, and geo- 

 logically, chalk capped by gravels, sands, and clays of various depths. 

 Amersham Common, so-called " common," stands about 5oofeet above 

 the sea-level, and is situated on a ridge of varying width lying between 

 the diverging valleys of the small streams, the Chess and the Miss- 

 bourne, upon the banks of which are situated the picturesque towns 

 of Chesham and Amersham respectively. The ridge is generally 

 speaking flat, with somewhat sharp declivities to the two rivers. The 

 northern slope to the Chess is covered by the extensive beech 

 woods, which some of our members know so well, and which are 

 easily approached by alighting at Chalfont Road Station of the 

 Metropohtan Extension Railway. The area accessible from Amer- 

 sham Common is well threaded by innumerable footpaths and roads, 

 many of the former being most difficult to trace. It is interspersed 

 by woods, lane enlargements, small coppices, and commons, and 

 notice-boards are generally conspicuous, as yet, by their absence. 

 Most of my collecting was done in a circumscribed area, but extended 

 excursions could easily have been made, and no doubt would have 

 been most interesting. The neighbourhood is attractive to the 

 ordinary visitor — fishing can be indulged in in the Chess ; Milton 

 lived for a time at Chalfont St. Giles, and his cottage can be visited 

 by a very pretty ramble across the fields ; Great Missenden, near the 

 next station beyond, is still further immersed in the Chiltern Hills, 

 and has lovely walks and woods; while further on yet lies Wendover, 

 in a deep gap through the main northern escarpment, and from 

 which an ascent of the beacon, 850 feet above the sea, can be made. 

 The weather was exceptionally fine after the wet spring, and the sun 

 brilliant and hot, although on the upland there was invariably a 

 pleasant breeze. 



