West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire

Description
Wycombe, West, a village and a parish in Bucks. The village stands under a hill side, 2 1/2 miles NW of Wycombe, on the London and Oxford road, and on the High Wycombe, Thame, and Aylesbury branch of the G.W.R., on which it has a station. It is a picturesque place, carries on chair-making, and has a post and telegraph office under Wycombe; money order office, High Wycombe. The parish comprises 6533 acres; population of the civil parish, 2599; of the ecclesiastical, 2094. The manor belonged till 1550 to the Bishops of Winchester, passed to the Dormers and others, and with Wycombe Park has belonged since 1698 to the Dashwoods. West Wycombe House was much enlarged in 1763 by Lord Ie Despencer, has a frontage of 300 feet, contains rich decorations and some fine paintings, and stands in very fine grounds partly laid out by Repton, and a well-timbered park of about 350 acres. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; net value, £85 with residence, in the gift of Lady Dashwood. The church was mainly rebuilt in 1763, is a handsome edifice of flint, stone, and brick, in the Classic style, consisting of chancel, nave, N porch, and an embattled western tower, at the top of which is a large ball capable of holding 12 persons. It stands on the top of a steep hill, and has attached to its E end a beautiful hexagonal mausoleum, built in 1763 by Lord Ie Despencer. A cave about 400 yards penetrates the church hill, and is much visited by tourists. There are one Congregational, two Primitive Methodist, and three Wesleyan chapels.