Wycombe

WYCOMBE (officially CHEPPING WYCOMBE. also CHIPPING or HIGH WYCOMBE), a town and municipal borough in Bucking hamshire, England, 264 m. W. by N. of London by the G.W. rail way. Pop. (1931) 27,987.

The principal industry is the making of cane- and rush-seated chairs and furniture.

There are various British remains including an encampment in the neighbourhood of Chipping Wycombe, but the traces of a Roman settlement are more important. There was evidently an important Roman station here and traces of the fortifications and many other remains have been found. In Domesday the manor only is mentioned. The last charter, which replaced several earlier ones from 1225 onward was granted by Charles II. in 1663.

See John Parker, History and Antiquities of Wycombe (1878).

WYE,

a river of England, famous for beautiful scenery. It rises on the eastern slope of Plynlimmon, close to the source of the Severn, the estuary of which it joins after a widely divergent course. Its length is 13o m. Running at first south-east it passes Rhayader and receives the Elan, in the basin of which are the Birmingham reservoirs. It then receives the Ithon (left) and then passes Builth and Hay. The river, which rose at 2,000 ft.,

has now reached a level of 25o ft., 55 m. from its source. As it enters Herefordshire it bends east to reach the city of Hereford. It soon receives the Lugg, which, augmented by the Arrow and the Frome, joins from the north. The course of the Wye now becomes sinuous ; and the valley narrows nearly to Chepstow. It passes Monmouth, where it receives the Monnow on the right, and finally Chepstow, 2 m. above its junction with the Severn estuary. The river is navigable for small vessels for 15 m. up from the mouth on high tides. The average spring tide is 38 ft. at Chepstow, and the average neap tide is 281 ft. The scenery is finest between Rhayader and Hay in the upper part, and from Goodrich, below Ross, to Chepstow in the lower, the second being the portion which gives the Wye its fame.

The name of Wye belongs also to two smaller English rivers— a tributary of the Derbyshire Derwent and a tributary of the Thames, watering a valley of the Chilterns.