About
Castle Hill House, now the home of Wycombe Museum, was once a family home. The house itself is a Grade II listed building, with its oldest parts dating from the late 1600s. It is named for the motte – a castle mound, or Norman defensive earthwork – which sits beside the house, probably having been constructed between 1135 and 1154 during the Civil War.
The site, now quiet and secluded by trees, would have once been an effective vantage point, offering views south over the Wye Valley and towards West Wycombe.
Although Castle Hill House is only around 400 years old, the site itself is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and archaeological discoveries indicate that the site has been lived on since the early Middle Ages. It was originally a Saxon Farm – an Anglo-Saxon burial site was discovered in 1901 near the main entrance gate to the Museum.
