CHENIES, a parish in the hundred of BURNHAM,
county of BUCKINGHAM, 5 miles (E. by N.) from Amersham,
containing 595 inhabitants. The living is a
rectory, in the archdeaconry of Buckingham, and diocese
of Lincoln, rated in the king's books at £12. 16. 0-.,
and in the patronage of the Duke of Bedford. The
church is dedicated to St. Michael. There is a place
of worship for Particular Baptists. The old manorhouse,
which formerly belonged to the Cheynes, lords of
the manor, and was much improved by Lord Russell,
in the time of Henry VIIL, yet exists at the west end
of the church. Attached to it is a chapel, built in 1556,
by Anne, Countess of Bedford, according to the will
of her deceased lord, John, Earl of Bedford, which is
used as a place of sepulture by the family; in the vault
underneath are upwards of fifty coffins, with inscriptions
bearing date from 1591 to 1819- Here is a large
paper-mill. A National school has been established,
and there is an hospital for ten poor persons, founded
and endowed in 1603, by Anne, Countess of Warwick,
daughter of the second earl of Bedford. John Russell,
Esq., ancestor of his Grace the Duke of Bedford, was
raised to the peerage in 1538-95 by the title of Baron
Russell of Cheyneys, which his descendants have continued
to bear.