Heath End Road


Awaiting the horse and plough
(picture from SWOP website)

The Wycombe Half Marathon


This tranquil scene of country lane
Will sadly never come again,
The motorcar’s put paid to that
Oh costly loss but modern fact.
This child awaits the horse and plough
And not the motorbike of now,
When once the blackbird and the thrush
Were heard above the morning rush.

But once a year the past returns,
The silence that we locals yearn
Descends upon this busy road
As runners pass in sporting mode
With just a shout of ‘Go Dad, go’
All traffic stops to ease the flow,
And high above in swirling flight
We hear the calling of the kite.

Heath End Road was once a very narrow lane which led out of the village and onto the heath. Lanes led from here down to Winchbottom and onto Handy Cross or down to Wycombe Marsh, the landscape dominated by farms (Heath End, Hard to Find, Winchbottom, Handy Cross, Abbey Barn and Cobbles) and fields and heathland. It was not until the 1960s that the road was directly linked to Daws Hill Lane although you could walk across the fields or take the circuitous route by Winchbottom Farm.
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