Wycombe Rural District

Downley is a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, which was included in Wycombe district before its abolition. It is high in the Chiltern Hills, overlooking the town of High Wycombe, although today it is almost indistinguishable from the urban spread of the latter town. The central part of the parish is the common, this extends over about 56 acres (23 ha). It is part of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Downley was originally within the 1890s civil parish of West Wycombe, however, in the 1930s West Wycombe village was incorporated into the Borough of High Wycombe and the remainder of the original civil West Wycombe Parish, which included Downley, became known as West Wycombe Rural Detached Parish. Due to Local Government reorganisation in the 1980s West Wycombe Rural Detached Parish was split into two civil Parishes, one of which was Downley Parish, the other being Piddington & Wheeler End. Downley was once three hamlets, Downley was the largest, with Littleworth and Plummer's Green on its south side. Both of these have now been incorporated into Downley as a whole, but there are still names such as Littleworth Road and Plomer Hill. Plomer is a derivative from Plummer. Downley was extensively built up in the 1950s-1960s and is still changing now, with the parish boundary being extended. The Memorial Hall, also known as the Village Hall, in the High Street was built in 1923 and is still in use. The old School, built in the 1870s is also still in use. There were also furniture making factories in the village as well as home workshops; a practice which was common in the Chilterns as High Wycombe and surrounding towns were large producers of furniture, in particular chairs from the Industrial Revolution onwards. Downley was once home to several farms, the largest of these stopped working in the 1990s but can be plainly seen from commonside with its huge barns and unusual listed farm house.

West Wycombe railway station was a railway station that served the village of West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire Situated about 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) east of the village the station opened in 1862 and closed in 1958. Minutes of the Wycombe Railway state that construction of West Wycombe station in 1862 cost £430 8s 8d, equivalent to £42,731 in 2021, with additional general works at £417 8s 8d, equivalent to £41,441 in 2021.In the late 1980s, the then operator of the Chiltern Lines Network SouthEast suggested reopening West Wycombe station in order to ease the peak hour congestion at the main High Wycombe station. However, no detailed plans were ever published, and there has been no further suggestion of reopening the station by the current operator, the Arriva owned Chiltern Railways. Chiltern Railways has invested heavily in both infrastructure and rolling stock for the Chiltern group of lines.

Naphill is a village in the parish of Hughenden Valley, in Buckinghamshire, England. It is north-west of Hughenden, on the ridge of one of the Chiltern Hills, and is adjacent to the village of Walter's Ash. The origin of its name is obscure. It is sometimes thought that people napped flints here, but this is disputed. Naphill is a mainly linear settlement, with nearly all the houses built on side-roads branching off Main Road, which is just over 1 mile (1.6 km) long. Naphill borders the ancient parishes of Bradenham, North Dean, and West Wycombe. Whilst a village in its own right, it is part of the Parish of Hughenden, and is located around the former border between two ancient British tribes, the Catuvellauni and the Atrebates. It is close to the ancient feature Grimm's Ditch. Walter's Ash in Naphill is the location of RAF Strike Command, which contains a nuclear bunker built on National Trust land in 1983–1985. This lies near the wartime Bomber Command bunker built in the 1930s. There was a peace camp during the time of the construction of the nuclear bunker, and during that time two copies of the magazine The Angry Pacifist were produced.

Naphill War Memorial is located at the junction of Main Road and Downley Road in Naphill, Buckinghamshire, England. It is a grade II listed building with Historic England and commemorates the men of the village who died in the First and Second World Wars.Among the names on the memorial is that of Wing Commander Alan Oakeshott DFC of No. 105 Squadron Royal Air Force, who was killed in action in 1942.

The High Wycombe Chair Making Museum in High Wycombe, England, houses a collection of antique tools, and explains the process of how the bodgers worked in the woods through to the finished Windsor chairs. It is now run as a community interest company.

St Mary and St George Church (SMG), High Wycombe is a free Byzantine style Grade II listed church, and is situated in the Diocese of Oxford. The church is notable because of its green copper dome which is considered a landmark in High Wycombe.

Desborough Hundred is a hundred in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated in the south of the county and is bounded on the west by Oxfordshire and on the south the River Thames marked the boundary with Berkshire.

Desborough Castle is an Iron Age hill fort which lies on the southern side of the valley of the River Wye in Buckinghamshire, which runs through the Chiltern Hills from The Ridgeway and Vale of Aylesbury to the river Thames.

Naphhill Common is a 71.1-hectare (176-acre) Site of Special Scientific Interest in Naphill in Buckinghamshire. It is in of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and it is listed in A Nature Conservation Review. It is common land, with commoners' rights to estovers (the right to collect constructional materials), grazing (for cattle and swine) and firebote (the right to collect firewood).This oak and beech wood is thought to be the most natural of all the Chilterns woodlands. It has diverse trees and shrubs, areas of acid heath, wet rides and ponds. Many of the oaks and beech trees are ancient pollards, and they provide an important habitat for invertebrates and lichens. Heathland clearings have some species which are uncommon in the county, such as heath bedstraw and the heather Calluna vulgaris.There is access from Forge Road and Chapel Lane.

West Wycombe is a small village famed for its manor houses and its hills. It is three miles west of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The historic village is largely a National Trust property and receives a large annual influx of tourists – being the site of West Wycombe Park, West Wycombe Caves and the Mausoleum on top of West Wycombe Hill. The Mausoleum and Golden Ball above West Wycombe village are impressive local landmarks, visually dominating the village and local landscape for miles surrounding. West Wycombe Park, Caves, Mausoleum and St Lawrence's Church were all constructed in the mid-18th century by Sir Francis Dashwood, founder of the Dilettanti Society and co-founder of the notorious Hellfire Club.

St. Paul's Church, in High Street, West Wycombe, England, is one of two Anglican churches in the village. St. Paul's was built by Lady Elizabeth Dashwood, widow of Sir George Henry Dashwood to serve the village of West Wycombe. The architect was J. W. Hugall of Oxford and it was built in 1875.Nicholas Pevsner says: The CHURCH OF ST PAUL in the garden of the Vicarage is of 1845 architect unknown, red brick with an apse and lancet windows. However, the date given on the stained glass windows gives the date, 1875 (also the date given in the Victoria County History,) and the architect as J.W. Hugall. The roof features pitch pine roof trusses. Near the church door is a large, traditional, font in which babies are baptised. It symbolises the start of the journey of faith. There are two stained glass windows, one is a gift from the architect and the other was given by Sir Theodore H L Brinckman Bart. Opposite the door is a large crucifix of Christ the King. It came from a church in Italy. The organ is a small, single manual, chamber one and is used regularly. St. Paul's is shared by the Serbian Orthodox Church, being named St. Nicholas by them. They hold a service each month. The most prominent feature of the church interior is an iconostasis covered with icons. There is also a statue of the Virgin Mary in the church and the Blessed Sacrament is reserved here. St. Paul's was consecrated by the Bishop of Buckingham on Sunday 13 June 1937. St. Paul's is known as the 'Winter Church' and St. Lawrence, on West Wycombe Hill as the 'Summer Church.' This was because there was no road up to St. Lawrence until 1928 and no power until the 1970s. The West Wycombe Revels, a large village fete, used to be held in the grounds around the church each summer.

The Hellfire Caves (also known as the West Wycombe Caves) are a network of man-made chalk and flint caverns which extend 260m underground. They are situated above the village of West Wycombe, at the southern edge of the Chiltern Hills near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, Southeast England. They were excavated between 1748 and 1752 for Francis Dashwood, 11th Baron le Despencer (2nd Baronet), founder of the Society of Dilettanti and co-founder of the Hellfire Club, whose meetings were held in the caves. The caves have been operating as a tourist attraction since reopening in 1951.