CHESHAM  , a

market town in the Aylesbury parliamentary division of Buckinghamshire, England, 26 m . W.N.W. of London by the Metropolitan railway . Pop. of urban district (1901) 7245 . It is pleasantly situated in the narrow valley of the river Chess, closely flanked by low wooded hills . The church of St Mary is cruciform and mainly Perpendicular . Some ancient frescoes and numerous monuments are preserved . All sorts of small dairy utensils, chairs, malt-shovels, &c., are made of beech, the growth of which forms a feature of the surrounding country . Shoemaking is also carried on . In Waterside hamlet, adjoining the town, are flour-mills, duck farms, and some of the extensive watercress beds for which the Chess is noted, as it is also for its trout-fishing .