A21

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A21
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From:	Lewisham
To:	Hastings
Meets:	A20, M25, A28
Grid References
Start: TA012259 End: TL162911
Route outline (key)
A21 Lewisham-Locksbottom A21 Locksbottom-Badgers Mount (M25) Badgers Mount-Chevening A21 Chevening-Hastings

Contents 1 Route 2 Grid References 3 Links 3.1 CBRD 3.2 roadsUK

Route

The A21 begins at a new roundabout with the A20 by Lewisham Station (it used to start in Lewisham High Street but this has now been bypassed). It trundles down to Catford, where it gets tangled up with the South Circular. This one-way system is called the Catford Gyratory -- no, it's not a dance! Out through the increasingly leafy suburbs, and into Bromley. There's a new bit of dual carriageway (although with traffic lights) spine road which bypasses the High Street - this is called Kentish Way (wishful thinking as Bromley has been a London Borough for 30 years or so!).

Out through Bromley Common, and our first bit of open space. After a couple of miles we get to Farnborough Common, and the junction with the A232, (called "The Fantail") which dumps traffic from Croydon onto the A21. We finally get primary status, too. Farnborough itself has a bypass, but is single carriageway. At the next roundabout we meet the A223.

After another roundabout, the A21 deviates slightly from its original course, and runs north of the railway and Knockholt station rather than south - this is another minute bit of dual carriageway. At the next roundabout the A21 disappears. The original road joins up with the A224 some way south of here, and the A224 from Badger's Mount southwards was the A21. This all changed when the M25 was finally completed in these parts in 1986: A21 traffic should now use the M25 from here - a short spur road links the roundabout with M25 J4 - and 'come off' at J5.

The old A21 - now A224 - has by far the better views as we descend Polhill, part of the North Downs, as the M25 was specially built in cutting to minimise the environmental impact. The A21 originally went through Sevenoaks (following the route of the present A224 and A225), but it was bypassed in the 70s. The bypass split from the old road at the point where the A224 currently crosses the M25, at the bottom of the hill, but I don't think there's any evidence of the junction left.

Anyway, if you're using the M25 to get back onto the A21, as you are directed to do, I said you have to 'come off' at J5, the Chevening interchange. Why the quotation marks? Well, to access the southbound A21 from the M25 you need only stay on the main carriageway - to continue on the M25 westbound you need to use the slip road: this is a classic TOTSO. There's no access to the M26 eastbound; if you wanted to go that way you should have thought about it at J4 (and travelled northbound to J3 and thence out on the M20). After the junction, the road's still classified as M25 up to the junction with the A25. Then it's back to the A21 classification (and trunk road status!).

Things are much quieter now - the bypass is two-lane dual carriageway and you can really put your foot down. There are some good views of the Weald, too. There's a junction with the old A21 - now the A225 and B245 (a rare sighting of a 3-digit B road outside London!) - where the Sevenoaks bypass becomes the Tonbridge bypass. (The route of the old A21 through Tonbridge is now taken by the B245, B2260 where the A21 used to multiplex with the A26 along the High Street, and A2014.) The bypass has a fun junction with the A26 but it's a bit of a shock when you see the `fork' signs meaning that the dual carriageway is about to end. The next section, Castle Hill, is crying out for a bypass/improvement in terms of traffic levels -- I think it's in the DTLR's `to do' list -- but I believe there are environmental concerns.

It's only a mile or so until you get to another roundabout and dual-carriageway bypass: this time for Pembury. There's a grade-separated junction with the A228/A264, then the bypass stops and chucks you back onto old road at Kipping's Cross. This section can be a bit painful when traffic's heavy. A few miles down the road, the village of Lamberhurst has now been bypassed with a dual carriageway that panoramically descends and then climbs to pass under a `land bridge' for the Scotney Castle access road, which means that the access road now crosses the A21 on a bridge with trees etc. on it, the intention being that you don't notice you're crossing a trunk road. For more information on the Lamberhurst bypass and the bridge, see the HA website.

We pass Bewl Water, a massive reservoir, and cross the border into Sussex at Flimwell -- we're really in the country now. Robertsbridge has been bypassed, and the road does not follow its original alignment through Battle (now A2100), instead following a road to the east. However, this road was not new (it had been the B2091 before, and part of the A229) and was the more direct route to Hastings too.

We descend into Hastings, meeting the A28 on our way, and finish on the seafront, meeting -- guess what -- the runaway A259 which puts paid to yet another two-digit A-road!

Original Author(s): Tom, Adam Colton

Grid References

Links

CBRD

• Futures: Kippings X to Lamberhurst
• Futures: Castle Hill to Pembury

roadsUK

• Route Guide