Hello.
I am interested in this stretch of dual carriage which follows roughly what was once the old Roman Road Rykneld Street.
I know a fair bit about the history of this area as it where I am from (not the A38 itself...) but I have never really seen any old photos before it was widened into what we know it as now. I have seen one or two on the agecary website (http://www.agecarey.com) but I would love to know if there are any more out there. I have an old cassini map of the area and it looks lke it used to follow the line that is now Wellington Road and Derby road.

To go off topic a little further I would love to see any old photos of the area that surrounds the A38 from the North of Burton to around Lichfield. It is a very interesting area what with the railway line and the Trent & Mersey canal.
There are some strange little back roads around Roddidge that have a strange feel to them (I wouldn't want to break down there late at night!) and even a completely gutted house that stands in the middle of a field.

As you go along this part of the A38 you can see easily where the dual carriageway has cut through other routes and I think you can even see where it (Rykneld Street) used to enter Lichfield at Streethay along the Old Burton Road, across (but there before) the railway line at Trent Valley, along Austin Cote and Rykneld Street and out along Cricket Lane....

There are so many more things that I find interesting about this road and the roads that surround it but perhaps I should leave it at that for the time being and see the reaction it gets!


Thanks in advance

Welcome to SABRE!

Dunno whether you're interested in the section further north towards Derby, but did you know that the northernmost bridge at the A38/A50 junction is a few years older than the others? It formed part of a temporary trumpet junction to give access to the Toyota plant.

When did the trumpet get turned into a roundabout?

Here are some pictures of the A38 as 'the new junction is under construction'. From the post above I assume this is the trumpet?

http://www.picturesofderby.co.uk/area_toyota.htm

As part of the Derby southern bypass, which was opened in 1997.



Yes, presumably.

The trumpet can be seen on old-maps.co.uk and part of its outline can still be seen on Google satellite view or OS 1:25000. I'm not sure exactly when it was built, but it was designed with knowledge of the roundabout proposal and shared as many details as possible.

I thought it would be something like that, just wasn't sure of the exact year.

Thanks for your replies.
Yes I can remember when the plant was announced and I can remember how it looked around there before it was built.

Do you know anywhere else where there may be older photos of the A38 during construction?
Please don't let this thread die a death people!

Very happy to keep the thread alive, as I grew up in Barton Under Needwood and my parents still live there.

I remember the Barton Flyover opening circa 1980. Before that it was give way- a notorious crossroads along side that at Alrewas.

(and the those little turnings to the south of Barton were still give way until around 1990- can you imagine going over a hump back bridge to find yourself on a dual carriage way with very little slip road. They were a death trap and no mistake.)


By the way the A38 in 1980 was proberbly nearly as busy as it is today, because in those days it was the main route from Birmingham and the M5 through to the M1 and Yorkshire.

I remeber the route confirmation sign north of Barton that used to give distances to Nottingham, Chesterfield and Sheffield. I think the route confirmation sign to the south used to give distances to Worcester and Coventry but I'm less sure on that one?

Many long distance truckers used to stop at the Oakamoor cafe at Barton Turn (still there though not as busy these days)

I'm too young to remeber Barton and Walton station open, but I can remember the disused station buildings which are now covered by the Greycar business park. Just to the south of the old station site is the Bombardier Train Depot (BUT NO BLOODY STATION )

Funnily enough, I was only thinking the other day that the whole village of Barton is in the 'wrong' place- you would have expected development around the A38, canal and railway, but in fact it's a mile or so to the west of that.


I've no pictures AFAIK, but I'm happy to expand on any of this if I can......

What, the A38? Derby road yes, for sure, but IIRC Wellington Road was only extended south to the (modern) A38 circa 1985

I think the origninal line would have been Main Street, Branston- Burton Road, Branston Road, Lichfield Street, High Street (including the pedestrainised bit), Wetmore Road, Derby Road.

There were level crossings all along High Street until the 1960s according to my dad. Can you imagine that?!

One last thing. I think I still have a 1950s OS map of Burton somewhere. If you want owt looking up, I'll try, although replies will be subject to fairly long delays as it's at my parents house and I only go there on weekends.

Well yes, I grew up in Barton too but I can tell that I'm a bit younger than you Comstock.
I too can remember getting off the A38 over those hump back bridges and I'm pleased that 2 of them are there still. I think it was probably 1991 that they were closed off as that is when the dogs head lane flyover was finished. I did a GSCE project on collating Bartonian's views of a Barton bypass in that year that was during the final stages of development I think.

Regarding the main Barton flyover, it was only recently that I realised that the road to Barton Turn was the original road into Barton before flyover was built. What I mean is that you would originally have come off the A38 over the little hump back bridge near the Vine and driven past the entrance to what is now the Barton Marina. You can actually see an original bit of road when you turn off the B5016.

Hmm, now when I said Wellington Rd I got that wrong and yes I can actually remember that being built back in '87 I think. But back to the route of Ryknild Street, I got my info from that old Cassini map and info from British-history online and made a mistake when typing. Basically you can see the route that it would have taken. I suppose it would also have travelled along Main St in Branston which is now a dead end. There are many tell-tale signs. I would love to have seen those level crossings!

I'm interested in the little road that goes to Catholme too. Before that particular flyover was built we had never really heard of Catholme! I drove down there recently but you can only really go so far now over a railway bridge and then it is closed off to the gravel company. It has a presence around there that you feel you shouldn't be there. As kids we once went over there on our bikes (before the flyover was built and we found an old burnt out car there and stuff. We knew we shouldn't have been there as it was close to the railway line.

Funny to think that a little further along the river was Barton mill, pretty much where the Pirelli warehouse is now!

I'm sure that I can remember that when I was tiny you used to make a right turn cutting across the North bound traffic to enter Alrewas by the petrol station. It was far too dangerous!

Don't forget that you can compare maps of the area from different eras on SABRE Maps. If you put "A38" in the search box, then zoom in to the right area, you can see exactly where the modern A38 differs from the original one.

Very interesting, thanks Steven

There was only one on the High Street, outside the Blue Posts....
Lots all over Burton though, somewhere around 35 in total I think!

FWIW there is also a little bit of old A38 to the left on the onslip here :-

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... 9&t=h&z=18

pull left into the gated entrance to the field on the sliproad and its in the trees, slowly rotting..............

Yes, that's right. The far end of what is known as Barton Turn with the Vine on it. I suppose this section was 'cut off' by the flyover.

There must be some photos out there somewhere?
I wonder what it was like before it was known as the A38?

Looking on old-maps the abandoned bit that lamp.chop mentioned was a northbound on-slip when the main junction was a crossroads with a gap in the central reservation. I get the impression it was completely at-grade with gaps when first dualled until the bypasses of Lichfield and Burton were built.

(edit- sent a PM instead)

Sorry thought it was original A38................

FWIW If in the area, there is another interesting old feature, the bridge, here :-

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... 13797&z=16

can't drive over it any more but worth a mooch around it..

The bridge further south near Fradley is nasty southbound if you go too fast. I remember when I first started driving along there I was doing 90-100 and the car nearly grounded on impact. Sometimes at night I forget to turn the cruise off and still get a nasty bump.

Yes, I had a mooch around there in my car a while ago. There's also a funny little lane that goes near there called Mill Stream Lane.
I would love to have driven around all of these roads a couple of hundred years ago.

So, does anyone out there know anything about the other pockets of funny little roads near to the A38 like those around Roddige for example?