|
 High
Wycombe is a former furniture manufacturing town mid-distance
between London and Oxford in the United Kingdom. The town
generated great wealth in the middle-ages initially through its
role as a market-town. The river Wye runs through the town which
is a 'ribbon-development' running along a valley floor with
steep hills either side. Given its location between London and
Oxford the area became a good rest point for journeys between the two. What is
now the Falcon Inn in the town centre was once an important
coaching inn. The great road linking the two historic cities
became, in modern times, the "A40".
Since the 1960's the A40
became secondary to the new Motorway network and now the M40
runs in parallel on the hills to the south of the town.
 Before the time of furniture manufacture the initial wealth of
the town was built upon milling, paper production and the corn
market. The River Wye supported many mills. One such mill is
"Bridge Mill" deep in the heart of the town centre on Paul's
Row. The mill there dates to 1899 but the River Wye was
culverted over in the 1960's. Now the town can boast only one
mill - Pann Mill, which was restored to operational use by the
Wycombe Society. By the 15th century the town was a big market
for locally produced wheat and oats. High Wycombe's famous
Guildhall, that sits at the western-end of the High Street, has
an arcaded ground floor specifically for the sheltered sale of
corn. The hall above was originally a granary whilst the area behind
the Guildhall was the old Cattle Market.
 Opposite
the Guildhall (and across the High Street) is the Little Market
House (built in 1761 & known locally as the 'Pepper Pot' due to
its shape). The area around it was once a pig market which later
became an outdoor butchery area where 40 butchers plied their
trade. Next to this area is All Saints Church which is the
largest medieval church in Buckinghamshire. To the south and
west of the town centre is a very large grassed area known as
"The Rye" which is our recreational heart. In modern
times it boasts children's play areas and many large football
pitches although up until 1927 the area actually grazed a milk herd.
At milking time the cows would make their own way out of the Rye
and then up the High Street to the Dairies beyond.
 Amongst
other claims to fame the town was the original home of the Royal
Military College in 1799. This later moved to a home that gives
it its better known name - Sandhurst. Old High Wycombe town was
surrounded by woodlands on all sides. The wood grown there was
very good for the making of chair-legs. Thus began High
Wycombe's famous Chair and Furniture manufacturing industry
which peaked in its glory during World War Two before rapidly
diminishing to almost nothing today. Ironically one of its chief
claims to fame was not for the manufacture of wooden furniture
at all - in World War Two the town turned its hand to the
manufacture of aircraft parts. The best known aircraft
manufactured here was undoubtedly the De Havilland Mosquito.
 This
was not the first time the town had adapted to war-time in such
a way. In World War One the town's factories were churning out
parts for many of De Havilland's earlier biplane designs. It was
to be a long and fruitful partnership for both De Havilland and
the town. Indeed, the town became so important to the early
aviation industry that, for a brief time, it had the world's
largest custom-built aircraft factory. This had been built for
the Wycombe Aircraft Company. It was never to be used as the
Great War ended before production started. The town had the
carpentry skills the world needed in the new era of aviation.
You might have thought that the 1940's and the dawn of the jet
age might have seen the end of such work but far from it.
 Just
as the world turned to metal to build a new generation of
fighter planes one man saw an opportunity. Geoffrey de Havilland
(who was born just outside High Wycombe) believed he could build
an all wooden twin-engined fighter-bomber using the skills of
wood-workers. The Mosquito was born and despite initial
scepticism it proved to out-perform the fighters of the day. High
Wycombe made the fuselage, the tail (vertical and horizontal),
the wing, the flaps, the bomb-bay doors, the dinghy-housing, the
plexi-glass canopy, parts for the undercarriage and even the
cameras for the reconnaissance version. Practically the entire
aircraft minus engines, fuel system and electronics were made
here. Over 7500 such aircraft could be assembled with the parts
made in High Wycombe.
This remains a proud
legacy almost unrecognised today as there is no statue, no
memorial nor any plaque to mark the town's contribution to
victory. In the post-war time the town suffered as most of its
industry left the town. Today the milk does not come from our
own Dairies and the cows do not walk down the High Street at
milking time. Ask most children where their milk comes from and
they will tell you that it is from a supermarket. We have a
market but 40 butchers do not ply a trade here anymore. There is
no cattle market, no grain market nor granary. Our one mill
opens a few times a year as a tourist spectacle with the
permission of the local water authority who permit enough water
to flow to make the mill work.
Our saving grace was as a
transport hub with a mainline railway station allowing commuters
to travel to London for work. With the widespread use of cars
came the commute to the more successful sunrise industries of
the Thames Valley and beyond. High Wycombe settled into becoming
a dormitory town. By 2008 a local Council report boasted on the
town's pride in being amongst the top 100 retail destinations in
the UK. So, it seems, we were born to shop.
It doesn't have to be this way. Not any more. In fact - it just
cannot be this way anymore. The past is not some glorious
academic relic. We can learn from it. This Town lives on. It is
not a Museum. One thing is sure, the past is not always our
guide to the future. Some change has been very good - such as
the slum clearance schemes. Who would want to preserve those
slums today? Likewise some of our glories have a disturbing
background. Under the American system of munitions procurement
in World War Two the private factories profited. This lead to a
post-war system of support to the military industrial complex
that thrives until today. High Wycombe did not profit from its
illustrious war-time efforts to build military aircraft. Some
factories ended the war with the machinery too worn out to use.
It had been worked 24 hours a day for five years. The Government
had used the machines and clawed back all the profit as taxes to
pay for the war. The demise of the local furniture factories
became inevitable. By 1945 the industrial heartland of High
Wycombe had been gutted with an accuracy no Luftwaffe Bomber
could ever achieve. The seeds of our own destruction were laid
at the time of our greatest victory.
So what have we learnt? Some change is good but it brings risks.
Risks have to be managed carefully with an eye to the future.
The people of High Wycombe were once adaptable and skilled.
However, in the post war time it seemed as if all change was
good. Change was made for the sake of it rather than for any
long term plan for sustainability. We shut down the mills and
replaced the sources of local food production with supermarkets.
We closed the local markets and shutdown all the factories. What
will come next? What happens when there is no supermarket-model
to feed the town? Will we have the strength to rediscover just
some of the skills we had in 1941? Will we produce our own food
again? Will we be able to process it? Can the Wycombe District
feed itself? Can we adapt? Will we turn "Sale" signs into wind
turbine sails? Will we do it willingly? Will we complain? Have
we lost the spirit of 1941? Is life boiled down to
home-delivered pizza and plasma TV screens? You had better hope
not.
Our finest hour is yet to come. |
