Tylers Green Common
At 7.7 hectares, Tylers Green is one of the smaller commons in the Chilterns but its built up surroundings make it an important local green space. A wide range of events takes place on the open Front Common: an annual and traditional Funfair; the Village Fun Run; school sports; Carols at Christmas plus a Santa Dash; and a splendid Summer Fete.
In the top corner is the large and well-maintained Widmer Pond, home to dozens of hungry ducks. Widmer is probably from Old English meaning ‘wide pond’. The pond was used for washing clothes, but not for drinking water, which came either from roof water collected in underground tanks in every cottage garden, or from a spring off Beacon Hill or a well at Rayners.
The open area of the Back Common, refreshingly free of recreation-ground-type clutter, is much-used for impromptu ball games and lazing around. It has become a dog walkers’ paradise.
There is a substantial portion of the Back Common taken over by scrubby woodland, criss-crossed by tracks. It is a haven for wildlife.
Historically the whole Tylers Green area, including the Commons, was part of the huge Wycombe Heath, mainly of pasture woodland. Wycombe Heath stretched from Totteridge on the east of High Wycombe to Amersham old town.
The cottages on the common are the result of a large number of small encroachments and settlements by ‘snatch-holders’. These were often young, mostly local craftsmen and agricultural labourers, many of whom worked as chair turners, sawyers or carpenters in connection with the High Wycombe furniture industry.
There are commemorative trees on both Commons, including a magnificent progression of memorial limes and beeches, which starts on the Back Common, winds its way around the village, and ends on the Front Common. Each tree is named for one of the 30 local men who were killed in action in WWI. An information board near the first tree tells the story of these special trees, planted in 1937.
In 1954 the parish council bought the common from the Church Commissioners as a way of stopping the piecemeal selling of the common for development.
The common is a complicated shape and the outline on this map is indicative, not accurate. For more information about the history of this common, see ‘Mansions and mud houses’ by local historian Miles Green.
Postcode
HP10 8LLAccessibility/terrain/walk info
Some open areas and paths are suitable for all visitors including those with push and wheelchairs.