Chequers

Chequers, or Chequers Court, is the country house of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. A 16th-century manor house in origin, it is located near the village of Ellesborough, halfway between Princes Risborough and Wendover in Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom, at the foot of the Chiltern Hills. It is about 40 miles north-west of central London. Coombe Hill, once part of the estate, is located two-thirds of a mile northeast. Chequers has been the country home of the serving Prime Minister since 1921 after the estate was given to the nation by Sir Arthur Lee by a Deed of Settlement, given full effect in the Chequers Estate Act 1917. The house is listed Grade I on the National Heritage List for England.
The name "Chequers" may derive from an early owner of the manor of Ellesborough in the 12th century, Elias Ostiarius . The name "Ostiarius" meant an usher of the Court of the Exchequer and scacchiera means a chessboard in Italian. Elias Ostiarius' coat of arms included the chequer board of the Exchequer, so the estate may be named after his arms and position at court. The house passed through generations of the Scaccario family until it passed into the D'Awtrey family, whose name was eventually anglicised to Hawtrey.

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