Ashley Green
Ashley Green is a
village in
Buckinghamshire,
England. It is situated on the border with
Hertfordshire, about half way between
Chesham and
Berkhamsted.
Originally a
hamlet within Chesham
parish, its name is
Anglo Saxon and means
Ash Field, referring to the large expanse of forest that once covered this part of the
Chiltern Hills.
Ashley Green became a parish in its own right in
1876, when the church of
St John the Evangelist was constructed in the village. Newspapers and coins of the time were built into the pillar adjoining the
pulpit. At that time, and until 1875, the
village lay within the
Parish of Great
Chesham. (The Church has since returned to the team ministry of Great Chesham
). The Church was erected and endowed by Elizabeth Dorrien of Clifton
Bristol, in memory of her sisters and dedicated on
31 December 1873. The land was given by Lord Chesham. The architect was G E Street and the contractor G Cooper of
Aylesbury Buckinghamshire. The total cost of the building was over £2,000 with the
endowment being a further £6,000.
The Church is constructed of local knapped black flints with
Bath stone dressings. There is a bell cote with two bells and a boiler house. The church was originally being heated by "Hayden's hot air apparatus", now disused. The porch is on the Northern side of the building the front of which is an oak moulded archway, the timber being framed in red bricks - herringboned. The roof is of plain clay tiles. Details of the Church Windows: [
1]
Some pews have a note on them which states:
"The seats in this Church are entirely free and unappropriated. The Church Wardens look to the Congregation for the support through the offertory of the usual Church expenses"
There are two bells , one of a diameter of one foot seven and a half inches (50 cm) and one of a diameter of one foot five inches (43 cm). They were cast by John Taylor and Co in 1874 and refurbished and re-hung in the early 1990s.
Today Ashley Green is a popular home for
commuters and executives who travel into nearby
London every day.
