High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, south-southeast of Aylesbury, southeast of Oxford, northeast of Reading and north of Maidenhead.
According to the 2021 United Kingdom census, High Wycombe's built up area has a population of 83,535, making it the largest town in the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire. There has been a market held in the High Street since at least the Middle Ages. The market is currently held on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday.
Toponym The name Wycombe would appear to come from the River Wye and the old English word for a wooded valley, , but according to the Oxford English Dictionary of Place-Names the name, which was first recorded in 799–802 as Wichama, is more likely to be Old English and the plural of Old English , and probably means "dwellings"; the name of the river was a late back-formation.Eilert Ekwall, 1960. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary of Place-Names. Oxford University Press. . The existence of a settlement at High Wycombe was first documented as 'Wicumun' in 970.
History Early history
The town once featured a Roman villa (built 150–170 AD) which has been excavated four times, most recently in 2002. Mosaics and a bathhouse were unearthed at the site on what is now the Rye parkland.
Wycombe appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 and was noted for having six mills. The parish church was consecrated by Wulfstan, the visiting Bishop of Worcester, also in 1086. The town was described as a borough from at least the 1180s, and built its first moot hall in 1226, with a market hall being built later in 1476.
The 1841 census reports the population that year was 3,184.The National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge Vol.III, London, 1847, Charles Knight, p.899
Trade and industrial development High Wycombe remained a mill town through Medieval and Tudor times, manufacturing lace and linen cloth. It was also a stopping point on the way from Oxford to London, with many travellers staying in the town's taverns and inns.
The paper industry was notable in 17th and 18th century High Wycombe. The Wye's waters were rich in chalk, and therefore ideal for bleaching pulp. The paper industry was soon overtaken by the cloth industry.
Wycombe's most famous industry, furniture (particularly Windsor chairs) took hold in the 19th century, with furniture factories setting up all over the town. Many terraced workers' houses were built to the east and west of town to accommodate those working in the furniture factories. In 1875, it was estimated that there were 4,700 chairs made per day in High Wycombe. When Queen Victoria visited the town in 1877, the council organised an arch of chairs to be erected over the High Street, with the words "Long live the Queen" printed boldly across the arch for the Queen to pass under. Wycombe Museum includes many examples of locally made chairs and information on the local furniture and lace industries.
The town's population grew from 13,000 residents in 1881 to 29,000 in 1928. Wycombe was completely dominated socially and economically by the furniture industry.
20th century
By the 1920s, many of the housing areas of Wycombe had decayed into slums. A slum clearance scheme was initiated by the council in 1932, whereby many areas were completely demolished and the residents rehoused in new estates that sprawled above the town on the valley slopes. Some of the districts demolished were truly decrepit, such as Newland, where most of the houses were condemned as unfit for human habitation. However, some areas such as St. Mary's Street contained beautiful old buildings with fine examples of 18th and 19th century architecture.
From 1940 to 1968 High Wycombe was the seat of the RAF Bomber Command. Moreover, during the Second World War, from May 1942 to July 1945, the U.S. Army Air Force's 8th Air Force Bomber Command, codenamed "Pinetree", was based at a former girls' school at High Wycombe. This formally became Headquarters, 8th Air Force, on 22 February 1944.
In the 1960s the town centre was redeveloped and many old buildings were demolished. The River Wye was culverted under concrete between 1965 and 1967 from and demolishing most of the old buildings in Wycombe's town centre. Two shopping centres were built (the Octagon in 1970 and the Chilterns' in the 1980s) along with many new multi-storey car parks, office blocks, flyovers and roundabouts.
Modern-day High Wycombe High Wycombe comprises a number of suburbs including Booker, Bowerdean, Castlefield, Cressex, Daws Hill, Green Street, Holmers Farm, Micklefield, Sands, Terriers, Totteridge, Downley and Wycombe Marsh, as well as some nearby villages: Hazlemere and Tylers Green. Particular areas in the suburbs of Castlefield, Micklefield, Terriers and Totteridge have high levels of deprivation compared to the rest of the urban area.
Although situated in the county of Buckinghamshire, which is one of the most affluent parts of the country, Wycombe contains some considerably deprived areas. In 2007, a GMB Union survey ranked the Wycombe district as the 4th dirtiest in the South East and the 26th dirtiest in the whole UK. The survey found litter on 28.5% of streets and highways. Data for the survey were taken from the government's 2005/06 Audit Commission.
The town has undergone major redevelopment, including development of the town's existing shopping centre, completion of the Eden Shopping centre, and redevelopment of the Buckinghamshire New University with a large student village and new building on Queen Alexandra Road.
These developments prompted the building of larger blocks of flats, a multimillion-pound hotel in the centre, and a Sainsbury's store on the Oxford road next to the Eden shopping centre and bus station.
Climate
Demography The Office for National Statistics (ONS) define a High Wycombe built-up area, which had a population of 83,535 at the 2021 census. Buckinghamshire Council define a slightly different High Wycombe Community Board area, which had a population of 75,814.
The ONS previously defined a different High Wycombe urban area (the town with some surrounding settlements), which had a population of 133,204 in 2011. This is an increase of 13% since the 2001 population of 118,229. Part of the urban area constitutes the civil parish of Chepping Wycombe, which had a population of 14,455 according to the 2001 census – this parish represents that part of the ancient parish of Chepping Wycombe which was outside the former municipal borough of Wycombe.
+ High Wycombe urban area Place Population (2001 census) Population (2011 census)Bourne End/Flackwell Heath12,795Cookham5,3045,108 Great Kingshill2,4521,761 Hazlemere/Tylers Green20,500 High Wycombe77,178120,256 Walters Ash3,853 Hughenden Valley1,915 Total118,229133,204
Hazlemere/Tylers Green and Bourne End/Flackwell Heath were included as part of the High Wycombe subdivision in the 2011 census. Hughenden Valley and Walters Ash were separate urban areas in the 2001 census. The Walters Ash subdivision includes the village of Naphill.
According to the 2011 census, the parliamentary constituency of Wycombe consists of approximately 108,000 people. White British people comprised 67.2% of the constituency's population. The next largest group in the constituency were Pakistanis, who comprised 11.8% of the population. 52.3% of the population were Christians, 24% were no religion and 13.4% were Muslim. Wycombe is home to the largest population of Vincentians in the United Kingdom.
65.7% of the constituency owned their own home either outright or with a mortgage. 14.6% were social renters and 17% were private renters. 15.8% of households in the constituency did not own an automobile.
Governance Parliamentary constituency Wycombe's political history extends back to 1295. The Wycombe constituency had continuously elected Conservative members of Parliament since 1951 until the Labour Party was voted in during the May 2024 general election.
High Wycombe has been home to two prime ministers:
William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, who lived at what is now Wycombe Abbey and was MP for the town. Benjamin Disraeli, who lived at nearby Hughenden Manor, was defeated as a Radical candidate for the seat three times in the 1830s but won election in 1868 and 1874–1876 as a Conservative. Disraeli made his first political speech in Wycombe, from the portico over the door of the Red Lion Hotel at 9–10 High Street.
High Wycombe was also in the constituency represented by John Hampden (1594-1643), a leading MP and Parliamentarian commander who was killed in action during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
Since the 2024 general election, the town has been represented by Labour MP Emma Reynolds.
Local government
Since 2020, there has only been one tier of local government covering High Wycombe, being the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire Council. The former High Wycombe Borough Council was abolished in 1974. Instead of a town council, the councillors elected to Buckinghamshire Council to represent the unparished part of High Wycombe also act as charter trustees, meeting to choose the town's mayor.
The ancient parish of Chepping Wycombe covered both the town of High Wycombe and a large rural area around it. To distinguish it from the neighbouring parish of West Wycombe, the parish was historically known variously as East Wycombe, Great Wycombe, High Wycombe, Much Wiccomb,. Chipping, Chipping Wycombe, or Chepping Wycombe. The latter version eventually became the official name of parish, despite the town itself being more usually known as High Wycombe. The town does not appear to have been a borough at the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, but was being described as a borough by the 1180s. In the 1220s and 1230s there were disputes with the lord of the manor, Alan Basset, as to the extent of the town's independence. These disputes were settled in favour of the town, with its borough rights being confirmed in 1237. Charters confirming the town's borough status were subsequently issued on a number of occasions. As part of the general overhaul of ancient boroughs across the country under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, the town became a municipal borough on 1 January 1836, under the name of Chepping Wycombe.
The borough only covered the built-up area of the town, rather than the whole parish. The borough council was therefore responsible for the secular elements of local government within its area, whereas the Chepping Wycombe parish vestry was responsible for secular matters in the part of the parish outside the borough, whilst being responsible for ecclesiastical matters across the whole parish, including the borough. In 1866, under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1866, the old parish of Chepping Wycombe was split into two civil parishes: one called "Wycombe" or "Wycombe Borough" which covered the area of Chepping Wycombe municipal borough, and another parish which retained the name "Chepping Wycombe" which covered the rural parts of the old parish outside the borough.
By that time, the urban area was starting to expand beyond the old borough boundaries into the newly separated parish of Chepping Wycombe, particularly in the Wycombe Marsh area. To deal with growing urbanisation in its area, the parish of Chepping Wycombe was declared to be a local government district in 1868, governed by a local board. The situation was partially simplified in 1880 when the local board was abolished and the borough boundaries were extended to cover the more built-up parts of Chepping Wycombe parish. The parish boundaries were not changed at the same time to match, making the Chepping Wycombe Borough Council responsible for all of the Wycombe parish area and part of the Chepping Wycombe parish area.