Wycombe

Wycombe commonly refers to High Wycombe, a historic market town in Buckinghamshire, England. It lies in the Chiltern Hills on the River Wye, about 29 miles west of central London. The town has a long industrial heritage, most notably in chair-making and other furniture crafts; its furniture industry helped shape the regional economy during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Today High Wycombe is a commercial town with a mix of service industries, retail, and manufacturing.

The wider Wycombe area includes rural villages such as West Wycombe, which is notable for West Wycombe Park and the nearby Hell Fire Caves—an underground chalk network associated with the 18th-century Hellfire Club—and for the historic St Lawrence’s Church. The town is served by High Wycombe railway station on the Chiltern Main Line, linking to London and Birmingham; the M40 corridor provides road access to London and the Midlands.

Culturally, Wycombe features museums and historic houses and hosts a variety of markets and events throughout the year. Education in the area includes a mix of state and independent schools. The area forms part of Buckinghamshire, a county with a notable landscape of the Chiltern Hills and a commuter catchment for London.

Wycombe also appears in the name of the former Wycombe District, a local government district that existed until the formation of Buckinghamshire Council.