WYCOMBE, High Wycombe, or Chipping Wycombe, a municipal borough and market-town of Bucks, is situated in the valley of the Wyck and on a branch of the Great Western Railway, 29 miles west-north-west of London, 25 south-east of Oxford, and 10 north of Maidenhead. Notwithstanding many additions to the town within recent years, it still retains many evidences of antiquity, including several mediaeval buildings. The parish church of All Saints, the largest in the county, was rebuilt in 1273 by the abbess and nuns of Godstowe, Oxfordshire, on the site of an earlier Norman structure, and underwent extensive reconstruction in the beginning of the 15th century. The present western tower, 108 feet in height, was completed in 1522, and adorned with pinnacles in 1753. The style of the building is now Early English with Decorated and Perpendicular additions. The interior underwent extensive restoration in 1874, under the direction of the late G. E. Street, and the restoration of the exterior is at present (1888) in progress. For the grammar school, founded in 1555 by the mayor and burgesses of Wycombe, and now under the direction of the charity commissioners, a handsome new building was erected in 1883. The remains of the Norman hall of St John the Baptist, incorporated in the old school building, with its chapel in the Early English style, adjoins the new building. The other principal public buildings are the guild-hall, originally erected by the earl of Shelburne in 1757, and altered and improved in 1859; the literary institute, 1854; the free library, permanently endowed by a subscription of the townspeople after the premises had been presented by J. O. Griffiths; the High Wycombe hospital, established in 1875; the shambles, erected in 1761 on the site of the old hog market; and ...the South Bucks auction mart, 1887. Some remains still exist of Desborough Castle, supposed to have been erected for defence against the Danes. There are a number of almshouses, including those of Queen Elizabeth, endowed in 1562 out of the revenues of the dissolved fraternity of St Mary. In 1797 a military college was established at Wycombe, which was transferred to Farnham and the junior department to Sandhurst in 1812 and 1813. The Frogmore gardens were presented to the town by J. O. Griffiths in 1877 as public pleasuregrounds. There is a common pasturage, 30 acres in extent, called the Rye. Formerly lace and strawplait making were the staple industries, but they have been superseded by chair-making, which of late years has greatly increased, the number of chairs made annually now amounting to over 1∣ millions. The rise of the industry was due to the beech-woods in the neighbourhood; but, in addition to the cane and rush-bottomed chairs, for which these woods supply the frames, chairs of a finer kind are now also made from walnut, cherry, and other more valuable woods. There are also flour and paper mills. The borough, which is divided into three wards, is governed by a mayor, six aldermen, and eighteen councillors. The population of the municipal borough in 1871 (area then 122 acres) was 4811; in 1880 the area was extended to 400 acres, and the population in 1881 was 10,618. The population of the parliamentary borough (area 6395 acres), which existed till 1885, was 10,492 in 1871 and 13,154 in 1881.
From the character of Roman remains found at Wycombe it seems to have been an important Roman station. By the Saxons a fortress called Desborough castle was erected for its defence. At the Conquest it was a borough town, and was then held by Robert Dody or Doyley. In the 9th year of Edward I. it reverted to the crown. The incorporation of the borough is ascribed to Henry I. From the 28th of Edward I. it returned two members to parliament, but in 1867 the number was reduced to one, and in 1885 it was merged in the South or Wycombe Division of the county. Camden, writing in the beginning of the 17th century, says of it, “This town for largeness and beauty compares with the best in the county, and as it is governed by a mayor is justly preferred to the rest.” During the Civil War it was the scene of a skirmish between Prince Rupert and the Parliamentarian forces, in which the latter were defeated.
See Parker’s Antiquities of Wycombe, 1878.
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