Wooburn (St. Paul)
WOOBURN (St. Paul), a parish, and formerly a market-town, in the union of Wycombe, hundred of Desborough, county of Buckingham, 3 miles (W. S. W.) from Beaconsfield; containing 1830 inhabitants. A rivulet rising at West Wycombe, flows through the parish, turning in its course several paper, mill-board, and flour mills; and many of the females are employed in the manufacture of bone-lace. The market, which was held on Friday, and a fair on the festival of the translation of St. Edward, were granted by Henry VI.; they have been long disused, and fairs now take place for horses, cattle, and sheep, on May 4th and November 12th. Wooburn House occupies the site of a noble palace that belonged to the bishops of Lincoln. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £12; net income, £138; patron and impropriator, James Dupré, Esq. The tithes were commuted for land and corn-rents in 1802. The church is a stately edifice in the later English style, with a very handsome tower; it contains a curiously-carved font, and some monuments to the Bertie and Wharton families. Philip, Lord Wharton, in 1694 gave a rent-charge of £22. 10., to be paid to the vicar for an evening lecture every Sunday. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans. The sum of £27. 10., the rental of 28 acres of land allotted under an inclosure act, and of a piece of meadow called the Church estate, is principally distributed among the poor.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.