High Wycombetown, Wycombe district, administrative and historic
county of Buckinghamshire, England. It lies along the River Wye,
at the edge of the Chiltern Hills and on the fringe of the
London metropolitan area. The town is noted for furniture,
especially Windsor chairs, made from local beechwood. Ancillary
industries include manufacture of precision instruments, paper
mills, and printing works. There are Roman remains, and a royal
charter was granted to the town in 1237. The town was largely
rebuilt in the 16th century. Wycombe Abbey is now a public
(i.e., private, fee-paying) girls’ school. The town centre
contains the 18th-century Little Market House and Guildhall and
the Red Lion Inn. High Wycombe is associated with Benjamin
Disraeli, the 19th-century British statesman who fought several
elections there and lived at nearby Hughenden Manor. Pop.
(19912001) town, 71,718; urban area, 116,36177,178.