Conclusions on roads

Prior to 1823 the only road locally was that from Stoke Mandeville to Chepping Wycombe, now known as the B4140. This was a turnpike toll road, but that was only a poor road until taken over as a turnpike in the late seventeen hundreds. All the other "roads" were what we might call tracks, not that much used, as most people used footpaths. The villages did not have roads, they were just clusters of houses.

These "roads" had been surveyed in the early eighteen hundreds and this was used when the Inclosures of Princes Risborough took place in 1823, and most were radically altered. The new roads were mostly designated as 20 feet wide.

Woodway, leading from the Turnpike up through the lower west half of Loosley Row was well established as it cut through the arable strips of the Manor. This did not alter. It continued up towards Lacey Green and there met a change. The old main route from Speen, along Highwood Bottom used to cross what had been Princes Risborough Common to a pond behind Windmill Farm and then cut down to join the upper part of Woodway Road. This was discontinued. It stayed as a track along Highwood Bottom onto the Common soon bending towards Lacey Green somewhere about what became Goodacres Lane. Woodway now continued up to a cross roads where the Whip pub was later built, then went straight ahead towards Lacey Green village. It was there called Windmill Road until many years later it became known as Main Road Lacey Green. A track that came up from the south part of Loosley Row and on towards Hampden passing the future site of the Pink and Lily and Parslows Hillock was discontinued and replaced by a road higher up to be later known as Pink Road. The significance of this new cross roads in effect took the Windmill out of Loosley Row into Lacey Green. Although this happened in 1823 I have recently (2019) heard complaints from Loosley Row about Lacey Green taking their windmill from them. Nice to know they care!

No doubt in the villages themselves over time tracks had been made, as the cottages were in two little clusters. However an official road was now to be built, with side roads, Kiln Lane, leading to public ponds, and Church Lane to pass one lot of cottages and lead to the new church. This track used to lead to Grymsdike Farm but now cut back to join the new Main Road, which continued till it got to Slad Lane into which it turned. The New Road to Walters Ash was not built until WW2.

No other new roads were built until after WW2. No rural roads were surfaced with tarmac until the 1930's. The people had been obliged to keep them in good repair with stones off the land. This would not have been the major problem here as it was in lower, wetter ground where they were frequently being taken to to the Manor court because of the bad state of the roads.

In Loosley Row the old roads were virtually left how they had developed over the years. Highwood Bottom remains a track to this day, never adopted by the council but now curves towards Kiln Lane which it meets half way up. There are now signs of the routes over the Common, which is now all fields.