Loudwater House


The horse-drawn bus stopping outside the pub
(picture from SWOP website)

Loudwater House then
(picture from SWOP website)

Loudwater House now


Llewellyn Weston ran the bus,
(His price too high for most of us)
And only those of middle rank
Would have a Weston bus to thank
For taking them along the road
To ease them of their shopping load.

Loudwater House appears to have been called Alma House on early maps. Before the London Road was widened it would have had a front garden plus a large garden at the rear (now car park and workshops). The house itself was once a family home but is now offices. The size of the original site gives the impression that the house was built when the village was still a rural community and when traffic noise would not have been a problem.
It was, however, a busy location. Llewellyn Weston ran the horsedrawn bus service to and from Wycombe. It terminated outside The Oxford Arms, later The White Blackbird as shown in the first photograph. The middle photograph would appear to have been taken from the location of the pub, looking eastwards towards Wycombe with Loudwater House on the right. The last photograph is how the location looks today.
Llewellyn Weston faced competiton from the Bourne End to Wycombe railway, which was a faster way to travel, and when motor buses came into being his business dried up. However, Loudwater's position on the London to Oxford Road had always been a good stopping point for the London to Oxford stage coach (note the mile stone opposite the Premier Inn) but, this too, faced stiff competition from the Wycombe to Maidenhead/London railway.
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