Chair museum to open new seat of learning

A market town once known as 'the chair-making capital of the world' is to open a second museum site to showcase its manufacturing heritage.

High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, was the leading chair producer by the late 1800s, and its football team, Wycombe Wanderers, are nicknamed the Chairboys.

The new Chair Discovery Centre will house almost 250 pieces of furniture that do not fit in Wycombe Museum's Priory Avenue site.

Situated above the High Wycombe Social Club, curator Catherine Grigg said the new premises will have "something for everyone wanting to understand and appreciate Wycombe's chair-making heritage".

High Wycombe was once the UK's centre of furniture craftsmanship, with about 4,700 chairs made daily in 1877.

The town also made the well-known Windsor chair, which had back spindles and legs connected directly to the wooden seat.

The main function of the new centre will be as a store, housing chairs as well as unique furniture archives, reference books and study resources.

Roz Currie, the director of Wycombe Museum, said: "I am so excited that our chairs will finally have a home where everyone can go and visit."

The centre is currently under construction and is expected to open in the summer. Visitors will be able to enter free of charge on regular open days throughout the year.

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