Time machines? Pah. You can fit one in your handbag.

There are already machines which freeze time. We are just so accustomed to them that occasionally we walk past the windows they create without looking properly.

But a camera as a time machine has  limited use. Because though we can see the precise details of everyday life in a time we could never experience, we can’t ask the subjects questions.

Wycombe sits on the London to Oxford Road in Buckinghamshire, and the Rive Wye has carried its goods away to London since ancient times.

And what did they send to the city?

Chairs.

The town’s Big Thing has always been chairs. Enough woodland to provide the wood and bodgers to cut and shape it; ample labour to make chairs aplenty. The town’s museum was a Chair Museum, which has now been adapted to hold the ancient knick knacks from other…