Wycombe Museum

Wycombe Museum has existed in some form since 1875, and has been in it’s home at Castle Hill House on Priory Avenue since 1962. It is now an independent charity managed by Wycombe Heritage and Arts Trust (WHAT), but was previously run by Wycombe District Council.

Wycombe Museum looks after collections totalling over 20,000 items of Social History, Furniture, Art and Photographs. The artefacts, belonging to Buckinghamshire Council and cared for by Wycombe Museum, represent High Wycombe and the surrounding area (formerly Wycombe District). This area covers Marlow, Stokenchurch, Princes Risborough and the surrounding villages. The collection includes objects dating from prehistoric times through to the present day, with the majority dating from around the 1850s onwards.

The Museum is best known for chairs. The collections include thousands of objects relating to the area’s rich furniture-making heritage, such as chairs, furniture, tools, archives and photographs. Other local crafts and industries represented in the collections include lace making, straw plaiting, paper making and brewing. The Art collection represents artists and subjects with local connections