Of the entire HS2 route, this ‘central’ section past Banburyshire is, for me, the one which will have the greatest impact. That’s not just because it’s close to ‘my backyard’. Cutting through the line of hills separating the South East from the Midlands creates a higher visual and ecological impact due to the extra civil engineering required to build the line.
Thus far the attention has been given mainly to the Chilterns, and the landscape and biodiversity that exists there. However, it is the lack of development in this area – the hilly land where Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and Warwickshire meet – that for me makes the construction of HS2 a matter of concern.
Acessing the middle of area is most easily achieved using the 200 bus service from Banbury to Daventry, which takes you directly through the countryside along the HS2 route. For the bottom half use the 500 service from Banbury to Brackley.
The top part of the area is more complicated to get to from Banbury – requiring (with the demise of our direct services) changing buses in Daventry for Southam, or travelling to Leamington Spa to access the better served Warwickshire bus network.
To view a scene click on one of the numbered blue dots on the map. This will take you to the page for that scene. To return to this index just click ’back’. Otherwise browse the list below to view the scenes in this area.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 9th March 2018:
Scene 1. Edgcote Viaduct at Trafford Bridge
In a few years time, where I am standing now will be over-shadowed by the bed of the proposed HS2 ‘Edgcote Viaduct’. This is an ancient site, where the old Welsh Lane track crosses from the Thames Valley into the West Midlands at a pinch in the Cherwell Valley. The significance of this crossing also makes it the site of two historic battlefields.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 9th March 2018:
Scene 2. Looking at the new HS2 embankment, Danesmoor Battlefield
It’s ironic that one of the places you could go locally to find peace should be a nationally significant battleground – twice-over: Once during the 10th Century battles with the Danes that created a united Saxon England; and a second time during the 15th Century Wars of the Roses that created Tudor England.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 9th March 2018:
Scene 3. Looking down the route of HS2, Danesmoor
This sheltered pocket of land between the parishes of Edgcote, Culworth and Thorpe Mandeville is a little-known local gem. It has great views, it is a good site for wildlife, and because of its isolation it is really quiet – a rare thing around here with all the major roads. That will end soon.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 9th March 2018:
Scene 4. Looking over the spring and stile at Blackgrounds, Edgcote
Just beyond Edgcote Park there’s one of our typical ‘upwelling’ springs in a small valley. Water just seems to bubble up from the ground, making it very boggy. Though some might have been turned into small ponds for livestock, many have been deliberately drained over recent years.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 11th May 2018:
Walking from Farthinghoe, Halse Copse is visible on the horizon across the valley at the source of the River Great Ouse. Crossing the ridgeline at Halse Water Tower, the whole expanse of the woodland, running downhill from the Radstone-Stutchbury bridleway, comes into view – with the route of HS2 running directly in the foreground.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 11th May 2018:
Scene 11. Radstone Bridleway (AX22)
This scene is fairly representative of this corner of the county. The geology of South Northamptonshire has more in common with the Costwolds than North Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. On top of that, however, sits a thick layer of glacial deposits – a mixture of fine silts and clays full of variously smooth and angular gravels, stones and cobbles.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 11th May 2018:
Scene 12. Radstone Hamlet, North
Crossing the countryside from the northwest, from either Halse or Greatworth and Stutchbury, the old byways bring you to Radstone. With the arrival of HS2 this level approach into the the hamlet along the ridge-line will be fundamentally transformed.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 11th May 2018:
Scene 13. Radstone Hamlet, South
Leaving Brackley to walk to Radstone, avoiding the busy and narrow Radstone Road, the easiest route is via Halse Road and then The Worlidge green lane. That brings you to the point in the image above, looking into Radstone hamlet from the southwest.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 11th May 2018:
Scene 14. Radstone Water Meadows, West
One the key problems created by the massive scale of HS2’s engineering, in particular the large surface area of its ‘green cuttings’, is the management of surface water (especially from sudden heavy rainfall events). This has to be controlled to prevent flooding at the drainage points from the route – Radstone being a prime example.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 11th May 2018:
Scene 15. Radstone Water Meadows, East
Changes to the landscape east of HS2 near Radstone could have a beneficial effect on biodiversity. What will determine that is the precise nature of those changes, which are not clear. What we are left with then are the evident changes to the biodiversity of the ‘improved’ grasslands of the water meadow, the effects of which will again depend upon the scheme put in place to manage surface water from the HS2 route.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 11th June 2018:
Scene 23. Featherbed Lane, Mixbury
Viewing the unused Great Central line, where HS2 crosses its course
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 11th June 2018:
On today's walk this green lane connecting Mixbury and Westbury was a 'must see'. It's a beautiful, undulating lane that crosses not only the Great Ouse, but also many notable landscape boundaries which affect the character of it… and it is about to get a radical overhaul.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 11th June 2018:
HS2 intrudes on the informal recreation spaces around Brackley’s urban fringe
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 11th June 2018:
Many of the sites selected for inclusion in this blog have been chosen because they represent a stark landscape intrusion. This site has been selected as a 'random' location that, theoretically, should present the opposite extreme; a barely perceptible intrusion.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 11th June 2018:
Turweston is an ancient settlement that, for much of its history, had a system of ‘open fields’. HS2 ploughing through the last remains of the Medieval parish’s ridge-and-furrow field system.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 11th April 2019:
Scene 28. Danesmoor from Edgcote Lodge
Looking down on the ancient battlefield site from the top of Edgcote Hill, taking in the tranquil scene.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 11th April 2019:
Scene 29. Danesmoor from the hill barn
Resting on top of the hill that gives the best view up-and-down Danes Moor, and the tops of the Irondowns all around.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 11th April 2019:
Scene 30. On the Welsh Lane in Danesmoor
Pausing at the ancient crossroads in the middle of nowhere, as my cross-country route crosses the Medieval drove road from Wales.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 11th April 2019:
Scene 31. Berry Close Hill, Culworth
The scene of rolling hills viewed from the edge of Culworth is about to be remodelled, with a large viaduct and embankment that will divide it from the neighbouring parish of Thorpe Mandeville.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 11th April 2019:
Scene 32. Banbury Lane, Culworth
Near to where the Medieval trackways of ‘Banbury Lane’ and ‘The Portway’ cross I view the scene across broad valley between this ridge and Edgecote Hill, where HS2 crosses on a viaduct.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 11th April 2019:
From the hilltop above Sulgrave I look towards the former RAF Greatworth site, where HS2 crosses the valley and into the Greatworth ‘green tunnel’.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 18th April 2019:
On the old green land that runs along the ridge past Halse all the way to Brackley, I pause to take in the valley at the source of the River Great Ouse.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 18th April 2019:
Scene 35. Chipping Warden Airfield
Though Chipping Warden airfield has resisted development pressures for many years, its former taxi-way is being used to re-align the main A361 road, and HS2 crosses in its ‘green tunnel’ at a 90° angle.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 18th April 2019:
Scene 36. Field Farm, Appletree
On the irregular edge of The Irondowns escarpment, where the Oxford Canal and the railway cross in the low pass from The South East into The Midlands region, HS2 emerges from its box cutting onto a long slope down into the plain of Warwickshire beyond.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 18th April 2019:
Scene 37. East-West Junction Railway, Boddington
Viewing the flat landscape, where HS2 passes The Boddingtons, from the scrubby embankment of a former Victorian railway that once stitched-together the radial railway routes from London and Birmingham.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 18th April 2019:
Looking across the gap in The Irondowns escarpment from the top of Lower Boddington, where HS2 climbs from the flat plain and into the hillside beyond.
‘Last Chance (HS)To See’, 18th April 2019:
A grandstand view from the escarpment, to the Burton Dassett Hills beyond, where HS2 crosses from The South East into The Midlands region.