High Wycombe Historic Town Assessment Draft Report High Wycombe Historic Town Assessment Report Draft Wickham from the Marlow Road by W. Turner 1803 – Etching with watercolour High Wycombe Historic Town Assessment Draft Report Summary .................................................................................................................................................. 5 I DESCRIPTION................................................................................................................................. 10 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 10 1.1 Project Background and Purpose .......................................................................................... 10 1.2 Aims ....................................................................................................................................... 10 2 Setting ............................................................................................................................................. 17 2.1 Location, Topography & Geology .......................................................................................... 17 2.2 Wider Landscape ................................................................................................................... 17 3 Evidence.......................................................................................................................................... 19 3.1 Historic Maps.......................................................................................................................... 19 3.2 Documentary Evidence .......................................................................................................... 19 3.3 Built Heritage.......................................................................................................................... 19 3.4 Archaeological Evidence........................................................................................................ 21 3.5 Environmental Evidence ........................................................................................................ 29 4 Archaeological & Historical Development................................................................................... 35 4.1 Prehistoric period (c.10,000 BC – AD 43).............................................................................. 35 4.2 Roman period (AD 43 – 410) ................................................................................................. 37 4.3 Saxon period (AD 410 – 1066)............................................................................................... 42 4.4 Medieval period (1066-1536) ................................................................................................. 47 4.5 Post medieval period (1536-1800)......................................................................................... 60 4.6 Modern period (1800-Present)............................................................................................... 71 II ASSESSMENT ............................................................................................................................. 99 5 Designations................................................................................................................................... 99 5.1 Conservation Areas (I) ........................................................................................................... 99 5.2 Registered Parks and Gardens.............................................................................................. 99 5.3 Archaeological Notification Areas .......................................................................................... 99 5.4 Scheduled Monuments .......................................................................................................... 99 6 Historic Urban Zones................................................................................................................... 102 6.1 Introduction........................................................................................................................... 102 6.2 Historic Urban Zones ........................................................................................................... 102 6.3 Archaeological Assessment................................................................................................. 102 6.4 Heritage Values.................................................................................................................... 104 6.5 Historic Settlement ............................................................................................................... 107 6.6 Modern Settlement............................................................................................................... 117 III RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................................................................................. 131 7 Management Recommendations ................................................................................................ 131 7.1 Conservation Area Appraisals.............................................................................................. 131 7.2 Registered Parks and Gardens............................................................................................ 131 7.3 Archaeological Notification Areas ........................................................................................ 131 7.4 Scheduled Monuments ........................................................................................................ 131 8 Research Agenda ......................................................................................................................... 132 Bibliography......................................................................................................................................... 133 9 Addresses ..................................................................................................................................... 136 1 Appendix: Chronology & Glossary of Terms ............................................................................ 137 1.1 Chronology (taken from Unlocking Buckinghamshire’s Past Website)................................ 137 1.2 Glossary of Terms................................................................................................................ 137 2 Appendix: HER Records.............................................................................................................. 139 2.1 Monuments HER Report ...................................................................................................... 139 2.2 Landscapes HER Reports.................................................................................................... 146 2.3 Find Spots ............................................................................................................................ 146 2.4 Listed Buildings .................................................................................................................... 154 3 Appendix: Trade Listings and Population Data ........................................................................ 159 4 Appendix: Historical Consultancy Report................................................................................. 162 2 High Wycombe Historic Town Assessment Draft Report List of Illustrations Figure 1: Urban Character Zones for High Wycombe............................................................................... 7 Figure 2: High Wycombe in location........................................................................................................ 11 Figure 3: Geology of town (BGS) ............................................................................................................ 12 Figure 4: Superficial geology around Wycombe...................................................................................... 13 Figure 5: Diagram of Connections from High Wycombe (representational only).................................... 14 Figure 6: High Wycombe in the wider historic landscape using Bucks HLC........................................... 15 Figure 7: Dispersed settlement around High Wycombe.......................................................................... 16 Figure 8: Listed Buildings by century ...................................................................................................... 20 Figure 9: Historic maps............................................................................................................................ 30 Figure 10: Listed Buildings in Wycombe borough................................................................................... 31 Figure 11: Listed Buildings within the modern town................................................................................ 32 Figure 12: Archaeological investigations in Wycombe borough.............................................................. 33 Figure 13: Archaeological investigations within the modern town........................................................... 34 Figure 14: Prehistoric evidence............................................................................................................... 36 Figure 15: Francis Colmer’s excavations at The Rye c.1931, revealing the villa mosaics ..................... 37 Figure 16: Site plan of B.R. Hartley’s excavations of The Rye villa complex