HIGH WYCOMBE

town, 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. (1991) town, 71,718; urban area, 116,361.