A207
From Roader's Digest: The SABRE Wiki
| A207 | ||||||||||
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| From: | Charlton (TQ407770) | |||||||||
| To: | Dartford (TQ522744) | |||||||||
| Length: | 6.9 miles (11.1 km) | |||||||||
| Meets: | A2, A102, B211, A205, A209, A221, A220, A223, A2000, B2186, A226, B2174 | |||||||||
| Former Number(s): | A2 | |||||||||
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| London • | ||||||||||
| Highways Authorities | ||||||||||
| Traditional Counties | ||||||||||
| Route outline (key) | ||||||||||
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Route
The A207, running as it does along the route of the Roman Watling Street, is straight practically all the way. Most of the route was originally classified as the A2, with only the section to Welling forming the original A207. When East Rochester Way was built to relieve Welling, Bexleyheath, and Crayford, the obvious step was taken of extending the A207 number further along the route.
Charlton - Dartford
We begin at the Sun in the Sands roundabout at the junction of the A2 and A102, named after a local pub. The first section of the road is not quite on the Roman route and we curve slightly to the right when we join it. This is Shooter's Hill Road. It crosses the A205 South Circular at traffic lights on the edge of Woolwich Common - a notorious bottleneck as I remember it - and then starts to climb up Shooter's Hill itself, passing the Memorial Hospital on the right. The second-highest point in London, after Hampstead Heath, is at the water-tower at the top of the hill. We then plunge back down again through Oxleas Wood and into Welling, the name of the route becoming Bellegrove Road.
The next major junction is with the A221 Danson Lane, which gives local traffic access to the A2. After this we're into Bexleyheath and the oddly named Crook Log, home of the local swimming baths, which then becomes Bexleyheath Broadway. A new section of dual carriageway called Albion Road relieves the centre of Bexleyheath, taking us off our Roman course for about half a mile. However, we shall be in no doubt when we rejoin it, for the road is now named Watling Street!
My detailed knowledge ends around here, but we pass through Crayford and finally over the Kent border into Dartford - a place where quite a few south-east London roads (and railway lines) seem to end up.
Original Author(s): Guy Barry
History
The section between Blackheath and Charlton was originally numbered A207 in the hope that it would be bypassed by the A2. It was renumbered as A2 as this bypass did not occur.
A small section in the eastern end of the road is now the B2174. This was renumbered in 1972.
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