Downley
| Downley | |
|---|---|
 Downley
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| Downley shown within Buckinghamshire | |
| Population | 2,244 5,278 (2011 Census) |
| OS grid reference | SU845955 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | High Wycombe |
| Postcode district | HP13 |
| Dialling code | 01494 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Buckinghamshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Downley Parish Council |
Downley is a village and civil parish in the Wycombe district of Buckinghamshire, England. 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 a subsidiary parish of West Wycombe. 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.
The toponym "Downley" is derived from the Old English words dun ("wood") or down ("hill") and lea ("clearing"). This indicates that the Anglo-Saxons found this area of the Chilterns to be wooded and that Downley was a clearing.
One of the few Chiltern commons that has remained open in the area, rather than become wooded. The common was once part of an Anglo-Saxon tithing, or group of ten dwellings.
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Wikipedia