Banburyshire Rambles Photo-Journal

Approaching Wendover Dean from the south the Misbourne valley flattens before it drops into the Aylesbury Vale at the Wendover gap. To traverse a small side valley running up to Kingsash, HS2 passes from a cutting over a large viaduct and then back into a cutting once more.

This image and panorama are taken from the byway which runs along the ridge on the opposite side of the valley, from Mobwell to Cobblershill.

The panorama below runs from the ridge at Cobblershill (left of panorama), past Haddenham Hill and Wendover Woods in the distance. This is where HS2 crosses London Road, before climbing (behind the line of pylons) to enter a cutting on the far side of the valley.

The houses on the hill opposite (near middle of the panorama) are the hamlet of Kingsash. The Wendover Dean Viaduct will cross in the middle of the view at this point. HS2 then re-enters a cutting which runs along the side of the valley, past Cottage Farm (at the right-side of the panorama).

Postscript, January 2021: Near the centre of the panorama is Jones’ Hill Wood, and to the right is the woodland that marks the location of Grim’s Ditch – both damaged by recent clearance works. Click the small camera in the top-left of the screen to access the background scene of the page, which shows the same scene at a wider angle.

Although the Chilterns Tunnel was extended northward to hide the route around Hyde Heath and South Heath, the crossing of the upper Misbourne valley is where HS2 will have the greatest visual impact upon the Chilterns ANOB. Crossing at a height of 11 to 13 metres above the valley floor, on an incline, this will also generate an extended noise footprint up and down the valley, and into the well used woodlands around Little Hampden and Dunsmore.