Today’s blog should have been part II of the history blogs, but I didn’t have time to write it properly. So instead I thought I’d throw together this little piece- which I hope isn’t as boring and geeky as it sounds!

Unfortunately ancient roads are not my forte- railways and modern roads are! I do believe that the spoil from the construction of the Hellfire Caves was used to build the road to High Wycombe (the A40), but I may be wrong. Here I invite you, the reader, to tell us about transport in Wycombe prior to the nineteenth century.

Railways are one of my passions- the railway itself by the way, not the trains. So-called ‘train spotters’ can sit themselves next to a line and note down all the numbers of the locomotives that pass them, but that is not my idea of fun!

Wycombe was actually one of the last towns in Buckinghamshire to gain a railway. Slough, Bletchley and Wolverton had one in 1838, Aylesbury in 1839 and Buckingham and Winslow in 1850. We had to wait until 1854 when the Wycombe Railway opened a branch off the Great Western main line at Maidenhead. This was later extended to Thame in 1862, Aylesbury in 1863 and Oxford in 1864.

In 1906 the town got its own direct link to London when the Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway constructed their joint line, nowadays known as the Chiltern Main Line- it is along that line that all trains to London run, using the old Great Central section of the joint line. The system was actually a lot more complicated than that- but I fear a detailed explanation would be too dull!

In 1970, the line to Maidenhead was cut back to Bourne End- which was a terrible decision in my opinion. I hope that one day it can be reopened.

What else can I say? Do you really want a history of modern roads in Wycombe?! Well, to be brief the motorway came in 1967, the Marlow bypass in 1972 and several other bypasses in the town centre, including the infamous Abbey Way in the 60s and 70s. I’m sure others will know the exact years if you want to know them.

Sorry about this. I’ve written this in about twenty minutes with little thought and only a bit of research to find some years of opening etc, mainly so I can continue the pattern of a blog every five days.

I will do part II of the history blog soon. I promise!

V © MMIX