West Wycombe

penannular ring found in West Wycombe in 1985]] The hill above West Wycombe (now the site of St Lawrence's Church and the Mausoleum) has been continuously inhabited for centuries. A Bronze Age settlement is widely believed to have existed here, and research suggests there was a pagan temple in a similar style to Stonehenge. The earliest known settlement is an Iron Age ditch and rampart contour camp dating from the fourth or fifth century BC. A Roman settlement later occupied West Wycombe Hill, and local historians believe a temple was constructed here (though the exact site remains unknown).

During the Saxon era, the hillside was once again occupied, and the newly established settlement was named Hæferingdune (Hill of Hæfer's people in Old English). The name later evolved into Haveringdon. The site retained religious importance: a church is said to have been erected by St Birinus (who had become the bishop of the West Saxons in AD 634). A Norman watch tower is also said to have been built on top of the hill. Haveringdon's population is believed to have been greatly reduced by the Bubonic Plague (Black Death) in the 1340s. By the 18th century the village had been resited in the valley along the Oxford Road, and renamed due to its geographical features and position: "West"…