England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
High Wycombe All Saints

The Parish

The parish of High Wycombe lies in southern Buckinghamshire not too far from its border with neighbouring Berkshire. High Wycombe, often referred to as Chipping Wycombe in older documents, is a much expanded market town lying some 29 miles west of London which sits on the A40 road between London & Oxford. High Wycombe has a long history, Roman finds abound in the area indicating early settlement, whilst, as will be seen below, in Domesday times High Wycombe was already a major settlement. Much of early High Wycombe is centered on the route of the A40 which follows the northern banks of the River Wye (not to be confused with that in the Welsh borderlands) with early gazetteers describing a single main street with properties lining the same plus a few branching lanes, today High Wycombe is a large town covering a spread of almost 5 miles from northeastern suburbs to those in the southwest. Whilst the core businesses of a market town, providing a point of exchange of mainly agricultural produce, the wider parish being almost 50..50 arable to pastoral, plus those specialist trades requiring larger populations to be viable, provided the base of the economy, High Wycombe had much early industry notably in the manufacture of paper, lace making and the local speciality of furniture manufacture. The latter industry is what the area is noted for with the extensive beech forests of the nearby Chiltern Hills providing material for chair manufacture, in particular. Modern developments have, however, come to High Wycombe significantly expanding the town. The arrival of a railway line linking both Bicester & Aylesbury through to the capital and passing through High Wycombe added good communications to what was already a significant coaching stop en route to Oxford. In more modern times the M40 motorway has brought rapid expansion as the good communications have expanded the service, light industry & IT-based businesses to the area resulting in today's major town and employment area. The Wye drains High Wycombe eastwards, bending south to meet the Thames at Bourne End before passing through the capital to the North Sea. High Wycombe is sited at around 80 metres above the sea in its early valley setting of the old town, some of the outer suburbs rise to 170 as the town expands into the Chiltern Hills. High Wycombe parish was one of Buckinghamshire's more extensive parishes, covering around 6,500 acres within which a population of close to 6,500 parishioners would have been supported, the population was growing through the transcript period and, today, is many thousands higher. In Domesday times, as already noted, High Wycombe was already a substantial settlement with a population sufficiently large enough to be in the 20% largest settlements recorded in that book, held by Robert d'Oilly uts assets were an impressive 30 ploughs, substantial meadows & woodland and there were already 6 mills along the Wye.

The Church

All Saints' church is a large town church, as befits its substantial congregation, and sits in the heart of the old town with Church Street sitting to its west and Castle Street to its north. The church is cruciform in layout with transepts leading away from the main body and where they formerly met was a crossing tower to complement that to the west which so dominates Church Street, the crossing tower was removed in the early 16th century. The transepts represent the earliest work of the church being 13th century and Early English Gothic in style, the date is also reflected in the southern porch The main body of the church is from the Perpendicular era, a style which flourished in the latter 14th and 15th centuries. The 6-bay arcades are a particularly fine example of town church building of that period. The western tower which looms over Church Street is late-Perpendicular with documentary evidence placing its building between 1521 & 1535, its upper stages were a later addition of 1755. The church, like so many, was subject to a rather thorough Victorian restoration of the late 1880s which is largely reflected in the external appearance of the church today. Most of the surrounding area is unsuitable for parking and it is recommended that a visit be on foot from a town car park. The surroundings of the church are dominated by commercial premises with the town's main shopping streets around, many are pedestrianised as is Church Street. The church has rather an abundance of trees around it making the choice of photographic angles rather limited for the photographer.