The Crown Inn, Amersham

The reputedly haunted Grade II listed Crown was originally an old coaching inn dating back to the 16th century or 17th century* and now forms part of the Dhillon Group’s family of modern coaching inns.

On several occasions the apparition of a figure has apparently been seen leaning against one of the old posts in the bar room when it has been empty of customers. There are further reports of a uniformed maid appearing in one of the bedrooms and of a woman climbing the stairs and going through a door.

In 2001 an article entitled ‘Bar staff spooked by ghostly sightings’ was featured in The Argus. This piece looked at several reputed haunted public houses in the Amersam area including the following mention of The Crown.

‘Housekeeper Margaret Wingrove, has worked at the Crown Hotel, Amersham, for three years. She said the hotel has five ghosts and gained another two when an extension was built.

She said: “I don’t like all of them. One of the new ones shouts “Get out now” almost through the wall. The feeling is mutual, I just run.

“In room 16 we have an old Victorian housekeeper. She tucks young men into their beds.

“You get men at three in the morning running down the stairs. It is quite funny. She only appears around Eastertime, it is probably because most hotels are seasonal.”

“I live in Penn Street and we have our own collection of ghosts and I can see and hear them. I have seen them since the age of five. Most children collected pets – I collected ghosts.”

Mr (Ciaran) O’Keeffe said that the Crown Hotel used to house the rich and famous like Dirk Bogarde and Oliver Cromwell, and people who stayed in the oldest bedrooms would wake up suddenly with an electric shock passing through them**.

*Usually described as 16th century or Elizabethan, however, according to ‘The hundred of Burnham: Amersham’, A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 3 (1925) ‘In the High Street, not far distant from the church, is the old Crown Inn, which probably dates from about 1620, but was refronted in the 19th century. Although the house is much restored, old ceiling beams and some early 17th-century panelling remain. In documents of the early 18th century it is referred to as the property of James Child.’

** I am not sure but this electric shock sounds more like what is said to happen at Bendrose House in Amersham, not The Crown Inn.