Julian Hunt – författare

In this entertaining book the author identifies each of the old coaching inns which provide ample evidence of Amersham's importance as a stopping place on the great coach road from London to the Midlands. He traces the history of all the town's tanneries and proves that Weller's brewery is much older than previously believed and that its many maltings were selling vast quantities of malt to London brewers in the 17th century. He does not neglect the townspeople themselves, not least the Drakes of Shardeloes who dominated the political, religious and social life of Amersham for 350 years. Here he is able to draw on the unique knowledge of Barney Tyrwhitt Drake, a direct descendant. Julian Hunt's well-researched narrative is both comprehensive and easy to read. Splendidly illustrated, it is a significant contribution to the published history of Buckinghamshire and will be warmly welcomed in and around old Amersham itself.

Gerrards Cross, known for its open common and picturesque Latchmore Pond, had been a place of resort ever since the 1790s. Genteel houses sprang up, attracting enough wealthy visitors that it began to be known as the ‘Brighton of Bucks.’ The opening of the Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway in 1906, with a station at Gerrards Cross, gave hundreds of Londoners the opportunity to live in ‘Beechy Bucks.’Gerrards Cross: A History celebrates the energy and imagination of the pioneer architects, builders and estate agents who ensured that Gerrards Cross became a high-class residential area, both socially and architecturally. It also applauds the entrepreneurs who opened their new shops and services when the commuter houses were still on the drawing board, and the brave newcomers who brought their families to live in the country, but depended utterly on their reliable train service to London.

A pictorial history of Winslow, presented through a series of photographs and images. It also includes historical captions.

Marlow is an ancient Thames crossing point, a position symbolised by its elegant suspension bridge. Timber, wheat and malt were the main cargoes sent down river to London in the days when Marlow merchants built up contacts with trading houses in the capital, apprenticed their sons to London tradesmen, and forged commercial links. Though never a busy market town, it had a market day and two annual fairs. Due to wheat and barley growing, the local maltsters prospered and Wethered’s brewery become the largest employer in the town.

Beaconsfield is a Buckinshamshire market town with a national reputation. It is best known as the home of 17th-century poet Edmund Waller and 18th-century Parliamentarian Edmund Burke. Situated 25 miles from London on the road to Oxford, its coaching inns were patronised by wealthy and educated travellers, and its beerhouses were a refuge for the innumerable carriers taking goods to London. Beaconsfield was home from an early date to a growing number of lawyers who conducted the affairs of the south Buckinghamshire gentry and acted on their behalf in London. The wealth of the Waller family was based on their legal expertise and their lucrative practice was continued by the Tredway, Gosnold, Smith and Charsley families. When the Wallers moved to Gloucestershire in the 19th century, their place at the head of local society was taken by the Lawsons, proprietors of the Daily Telegraph.The Lawsons bought the freehold of much of the commercial and agricultural property, thereby preserving the character of a town which might have been ruined by 20th-century development. With the opening of the Great Central and Great Western Joint Railway in 1906, many newcomers took the opportunity to live in Beaconsfield. Among them were the writer G.K. Chesterton and the editor of the Observer, J.L. Garvin. The new town near the station was tastefully laid out by local estate agents James and William Gurney, and by architects Burgess, Holden & Watson. Its leafy streets contain many fine houses in the Arts and Crafts style, and the architects offices above Lloyds Bank are among the finest examples of commercial architecture in the country.

A history of Coleshill