Wycombe Museum

Wycombe Museum Family-friendly museum that explores the history and stories of Wycombe and the surrounding areas. Known to many as The Chair Museum.
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Wycombe Museum is managed by Wycombe Heritage and Arts Trust. Charity no: 1155456
Company no: 0878 3933

Chair of the Month for June is this oversized armchair upholstered in red leather.At the moment, we at Wycombe Museum ar...
03/06/2026

Chair of the Month for June is this oversized armchair upholstered in red leather.

At the moment, we at Wycombe Museum are working towards the very exciting opening of our new Chair Discovery Centre. It’s a second site for Wycombe Museum on St Mary Street where we will be storing our collection of almost 250 chairs not on display in the museum galleries, plus our extensive furniture archives.

This is one of just a few oversized chairs that will find their new home in the Chair Discovery Centre. Its large size caused some initial difficulties while we were planning the layout of our new chair store!

But this oak chair has much more to it than its size. At first glance, it doesn’t show any obvious signs of being made in High Wycombe. However, it is a ceremonial chair that was made as the mayor’s chair in High Wycombe’s Council Chamber in 1931 – if you look closely you can see Wycombe swans carved on the arms.

The Chair Discovery Centre will be opening on Friday 17th & Sunday 19th July, and on regular Open Days thereafter. Visiting is free.

Chair of the Month is a partnership between Wycombe Museum and the Regional Furniture Society.

🔍 Visit the Chair Discovery Centre home page: https://bit.ly/ChairDiscoveryCentre
➡️ See our Chair of the Month Archive https://bit.ly/ChairOfTheMonth
🪑 Search our Chair Database online https://wycombemuseum.org.uk/search-our-chair-collection

Wycombe Museum are delighted to annouce the Chair Discovery Centre will be open to the public for the first time on Frid...
27/05/2026

Wycombe Museum are delighted to annouce the Chair Discovery Centre will be open to the public for the first time on Friday 17th & Sunday 19th July.

To celebrate the launch, we will be running the 2026 Chair Festival - a programme of over 20 events and exhibtions running at venues across the town througout July.
See the full programme here: https://wycombemuseum.org.uk/chair-festival-2026

What is the Chair Discovery Centre?
The Chair Discovery Centre is Wycombe Museum’s new store, situated above the High Wycombe Social Club. Its main function is to house collection which doesn’t fit in the museum, including nearly 250 chairs and our unique furniture archives.
On regular open days throughout the year, Wycombe Museum will welcome visitors for a peek behind the scenes and to delve deeper into the local chairmaking story. The Chair Discovery Centre will be open for all - chair experts, school groups, local history enthusiasts, and the general public alike.
The Chair Discovery Centre isn’t a replacement or a new location for Wycombe Museum. It’s a store for the museum’s nationally significant collection, which has never before been fully accessible to the public. Wycombe Museum will continue to be open to everyone, free of charge, at Priory Avenue.

How can I visit the Chair Discovery Centre?
Visitors will be welcomed to the Chair Discovery Centre free of charge on regular Open Days through the year. The first Open Days will be during the Chair Festival on Friday 17th & Sunday 19th July.

Visit https://wycombemuseum.org.uk/chair-discovery-centre to see full list of upcoming Open Days, book your tickets, and see all other visitor information.

We’d like to thank Association of Independent Museums, Aurelius Charitable Trust, Buckinghamshire Council, Heart of Bucks, The Julia Rausing Trust, Museum Development South East, Opportunity Bucks, the Pilgrim Trust, Red Kite Community Housing, Regional Furniture Society, and Rothschild Foundation for funding support.

Open air theatre at Wycombe Museum returns this Summer with Unbound Theatre’s award-winning Buckinghamshire Shakespeare ...
17/05/2026

Open air theatre at Wycombe Museum returns this Summer with Unbound Theatre’s award-winning Buckinghamshire Shakespeare Festival.

Shakespeare’s final masterpiece is brought to vivid, magical life in this brand-new adaptation. ....
Long ago, Prospero dedicated his life to the study of magic, and paid the price for his devotion. Usurped of his dukedom and banished to a remote island with his infant daughter Miranda, he vowed to have his revenge. Now, many years later, the opportunity has finally come. Summoning a storm, Prospero brings a ship carrying those who usurped him crashing to the shore, where a magical reckoning awaits…

📆 Sunday 5th July
📍 At Wycombe Museum
🎟 Tickets just £6 per person

https://wycombemuseum.org.uk/events/open-air-theatre-the-tempest

Coming Soon...New Community Cafe Exhibition: Wycombe Pride & Lost Victorian VoicesUncovering hidden stories of local LGB...
06/05/2026

Coming Soon...
New Community Cafe Exhibition: Wycombe Pride & Lost Victorian Voices
Uncovering hidden stories of local LGBTQ+ communities in Victorian times, alongside celebrations of modern Pride.

This is an exhibition in two parts. Buckinghamshire Archives present a series of ‘hidden histories’ of the LGBTQ+ communities in Victorian Buckinghamshire.

Bringing the exhibition to the present day, Wycombe Pride and Buckinghamshire New University 's Students' Union will be showcasing a selection of objects celebrating Pride in Wycombe in the 21st century – from pride parades to local LGBTQ+ events.

Exhibition opens Tuesday 19th May

Wycombe Museum’s Chair of the Month for May is this scroll back Windsor armchair, made in about 1870, probably in Oxford...
04/05/2026

Wycombe Museum’s Chair of the Month for May is this scroll back Windsor armchair, made in about 1870, probably in Oxford.

At the moment, we at Wycombe Museum are working towards the very exciting opening of our new Chair Discovery Centre. It’s a second site for Wycombe Museum on St Mary Street where we will be storing our collection of almost 250 chairs not on display in the museum galleries. It will also be home to our extensive furniture archives.
As we prepare to move our chair collection into its new store, we are needing to make sure we maximise storage space. This means grouping together chairs of similar heights, and this is one of the 53 ‘large standard chairs’ with heights of 90-109cm. Next, we will be working on writing information and labels for the public to enjoy when visiting the Chair Discovery Centre on Open Days.

The Chair Discovery Centre will be opening this Summer. Visitors will be welcomed free of charge on regular open days through the year.

Chair of the Month is a partnership between Wycombe Museum and the Regional Furniture Society.

🔍 Visit the Chair Discovery Centre home page: https://bit.ly/ChairDiscoveryCentre
➡️ See our Chair of the Month Archive https://bit.ly/ChairOfTheMonth
🪑 Search our Chair Database online https://wycombemuseum.org.uk/search-our-chair-collection

We’re so pleased to see this mural on Leigh Street in High Wycombe, honouring the town’s furniture-making history. It’s ...
01/05/2026

We’re so pleased to see this mural on Leigh Street in High Wycombe, honouring the town’s furniture-making history. It’s on the side of what was once W.M. Birch’s furniture factory - the building is being converted into flats. You can see details of the factory preserved in the brick work.

The town we live in will inevitably change over time, but it’s wonderful to see this scene brought to life. We don’t know who painted it, but they’ve done a lovely job!

Address

Wycombe Museum, Priory Avenue, Bucks
High Wycombe
HP136PX

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm
Sunday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

+441494957210

Website

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