Downley was originally within the 1890s civil parish of West Wycombe, however, in the 1930s West Wycombe village was incorporated into the Borough of High Wycombe and the remainder of the original civil West Wycombe Parish, which included Downley, became known as West Wycombe Rural Detached Parish. As a consequence of the reorganisation of Local Government in the 1980s West Wycombe Rural Detached Parish was split into the parish of Downley Parish, and the parish of Piddington & Wheeler End.