Chalfont St. Giles in 1836

Chalfont Saint Giles, on the road to Amersham, is the place where Milton finished his ‘Paradise Lost:’ here too, he is said to have had the idea of his ‘Paradise Regained’ suggested to him by his friend Elwood the Quaker. The house in which he resided was, when Messrs. Lysons wrote, occupied by a farmer. Here is a school endowed by Sir Hugh Palliser, who is buried in the parish church ; and at Chalfont St. Peter, close by, is a school supported by the Portland family. Population of Chalfont St. Giles, 1,297 : Chalfont St. Peter, 1,416.