Hounslow Fast & Hounslow Slow
All the stages came through Hounslow,
All the coaches heading West –
Driving on to Bath and Plymouth,
Coming back in need of rest.
All the coaches stopped at Hounslow,
At the Bell or Rose & Crown –
For stretching legs and changing horses
For the final push to town.
They all knew Hounslow then –
The drovers, grooms and highwaymen.
But nothing stays the same –
And so one day the railway came.
Only three miles north of Hounslow,
Yet those three miles meant a lot –
Steaming on to Slough and Reading,
Faster than a horse can trot.
All the West once came through Hounslow,
Then the bypass passed you by –
And little mark is left to show
From when this High Street lived so high.
We all know Hounslow now –
A long way from a horse or cow,
Beneath where aircraft fly –
And like the trains, they pass you by.
Rhyming Couplets 