Wycombe (Wick'om), a town of Buckinghamshire, stands, surrounded by beech-clad hills, on the Wye, a small feeder of the Thames, 25 miles ESE. of Oxford and 29 (by rail 34 1/2) WNW. of London. Called variously Chipping (or Chepping) Wycombe and High Wycombe, it was the seat of a Saxon fortress, Desborough Castle, some remains of which may be seen, and has a fine cruciform parish church (1273-1522; restored 1874-88) with a tower 96 feet high, a guildhall (1757-1859), a literary institute (1854), a free library, a hospital (1875), a grammar-school (1555; new buildings, 1883), and an auction-mart (1887). Lace is made, but the staple manufacture is that of beech-wood and other chairs - between one and two millions annually - with latterly whole furniture suites of a very high character. There are also some large paper-mills in the town and district. Hughenden and Chalfont, both noticed separately, are near. Wycombe, which returned two members till 1867, and then one till 1885, was governed by a mayor in Henry III.'s time, but first incorporated by Henry VI.; the municipal boundary was extended in 1880. Pop. (1881) 10,618; (1901) 15,542. See works by Thomas Langley (1797), H. Kingston (1848), and John Parker (1878).