Reporter Ishbel Matheson: "The cause of the violence is unclear, but there have been suggestions of a drugs vendetta"

Forty armed police were called to The Terriers estate in High Wycombe after the fighting broke out between the families.

As the ambulances carried away the injured, police helicopters circled above. Two of the injured were later released from hospital.

Police arrested 20 people after the disturbance and are continuing inquiries on Sunday.

A hand gun was later recovered from near the scene of the violence but no shots were fired. Witnesses also said they saw baseball bats and an axe.

The wounded were taken to Wycombe General Hospital, but one more seriously injured man was transferred to Stoke Mandeville Hosptial in Aylesbury, which specialises in head and spinal injuries.

A Wycombe General spokesman said: "Following the incident, eight males were brought to casualty.

"One of the men had injuries which have resulted in him being transferred to Stoke Mandeville for specialist treatment.

"The remaining admissions have serious injuries but none of them are life threatening. They are all in a stable condition."

The violence started around 1pm on Saturday. BBC correspondent Jane Warr who was at the scene said the two families had been involved in a five-year feud, which began with a children's argument over cricket.

Witnesses called the police when they saw people hitting each other with sticks and caught sight of a gun.

Police cordoned off the area. The gun was later brought out by a group of local people who were helping the injured and left in the middle of a road. It was removed by police before the armed response unit arrived.

A spokesman for the Buckinghamshire ambulance service said he had no reports of gunshot injuries in the violence.