A417

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A417

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From:

Streatley

To:

Hope Under Dinmore

Via:

Cirencester, Gloucester, Ledbury

Length:

96 miles (154.5 km)

Meets:

A329, A4130, A338,A420, A361, A419, M5, A38, A49

Primary Destinations

Cirencester • Gloucester •

Highways Authorities

Highways Agency • Oxfordshire • Gloucestershire • Herefordshire

Traditional Counties

Berkshire • Oxfordshire • Gloucestershire • Herefordshire

Route outline (key)

A417	Streatley - Cirencester
A417	Cirencester - Hope Under Dinmore

Like the A361, this road goes all over the place and ranges from a major trunk road to a winding country road. It's not really a "long way round" route per se, though there are several quicker ways to get between the two ends.

Route

Section 1: Streatley - Cirencester

It starts off just outstide the centre of Streatley as a fork off the A329, and just inside Berkshire. It climbs away from the Thames Valley, into Oxfordshire and along the Ridgeway, which is a nice fun drive. It then crosses the A34 without a junction and enters Harwell, best known (to me at any rate) for its large research lab. It then bisects the A4185 and A4130 - both ex A34 - at a roundabout.

The A417 continues west towards Wantage, where it meets the A338. It then runs along the Vale of the White Horse, until it meets the A420 bypassing Faringdon. The road ahead is now blocked, so we must multiplex with that road briefly before heading right at the next roundabout into Faringdon itself.

The A417 continues out of Faringdon and past Buscot House, then over the Thames at St John's Bridge to enter Gloucestershire before reaching Lechlade, where it meets the A361 in the centre of the village. It seems fitting that Lechlade should play host to two 3 digit roads that don't seem to know when to stop!

Beyond Lechlade, the A417 heads past the Cotwolds Water Park - wonder if you can wave to waterskiers as you drive past? It then heads through Fairford, crossing the River Cole, and heads through countryside past the picturesque village of Ampney Crucis (stayed here once on holiday) towards the historical town of Cirencester.

Section 2: Cirencester - Gloucester

As you might imagine, being a historial Roman settlement, Cirencester is the meeting point of two important Roman Roads - the Fosse Way and Ermin Street. In a few miles the A417 will run on part of the course of the latter road.

Before that, however, the A417 approaches a bridge over which it crosses the primary ... A417! Originally the A419 and A417 canoned off each other in the middle of Cirencester, but following the completion of the Cirencester bypass, there's now a two mile stretch of road between the A419 branching off towards Stroud, and the non primary A417 meeting it. Northbound signs refer to it as the A417, whereas southbound signs refer to it as the A419, so it's a schitzophrenic multiplex. Things are made even more complicated though, by the fact you can't actually get from the non primary A417 onto the primary A417 - you have to carry on for another half a mile to meet the A429 at a T-junction, then double back on yourself to meet the primary route.

The Cirencester Bypass

At any case, the character of the A417 now changes completely as it's a major dual carriageway, cutting the corner between the M4 near Swindon, and M5 near Gloucester. It soon meets up with Ermin Way at the end of the Cirencester bypass, and carries along its route, still a good dual grade separated road.

It doesn't last though - about eight miles north of Cirencester the dual carriageway gives out rather disappointingly at a small roundabout and we're back onto the original single carriageway, which is a huge bottleneck with regular traffic jams. The reason this part hasn't been dualled yet will soon become apparant, as the A417 runs along the edge of Birdlip Hill with some really spectacular views to the left, before meeting the A436 at the Air Balloon Roundabout. It then doubles back on itself to head sharply down the hill - a real challenge for HGVs!

Travelling up Birdlip Hill

At the bottom of the hill the A417 widens out to a dual carriageway and passes underneath the A46, bypassing Brockworth, to meet the M5 at junction 11a just outside Gloucester. It's probably worth mentioning at this point that Gloucester to Oxford traffic is signed these days via the A417 (back up Birdlip Hill) and the A436 instead of the A40, which still ploughs straight through the middle of Cheltenham. Maybe this part of the A417 will turn into the A40 eventually?

After the M5 junction and another roundabout, the A417 meets a spur of the A40, taking the primary status with it. At the next roundabout, it meets the A38, which it multiplexes with around the north of Gloucester. It reasserts itself as part of the Inner Ring Road, and then runs on a dualled section up to the A40 at a roundabout just before the latter road bridges the Severn at its nearest point since the Severn Bridge some 30 miles downstream.

Section 3: Gloucester - Hope Under Dinmore

We leave the A40, heading north, crossing a channel of the River Severn as we enter Maisemore. We then pass Hartpury before reaching Staunton, where we turn left in the village centre. The right turn is the B4213 and straight on is the B4208. Again, we curve round to the north, before crossing over M50 junction 2, an almost conventional diamond layout. The reason it is almost conventional is because immediately north of the motorway, the A417 turns sharp left, and we meet the eastbound off-slip a hundred yards or so away from the bridge. There is a motorway maintenance depot at this junction.

The A417 then runs parallel with the M50 for a short distance before turning slightly north again towards Ledbury. We follow the Ledbury bypass around the west side of the town - the southern section is a multiplex with the A449. After a couple more roundabouts we meet the A438 as it emerges from Ledbury. We turn left onto a multiplex with the A438. To the north there is an impressive brick arch railway viaduct.

A few miles west, we reach the Trumpet junction, where the A417 turns right. The left turn is the A4172, which suggests that the route we have just followed isn't the original line of the A417. This is true, but that is because the A417 didn't originally run west of Gloucester. However, when it was extended (sometime between 1947 and 1956), it was allocated to the route it takes at present. The A4172 was previously the B4215. Presumably it was allocated the number A4172 as it could be argued that it is a spur of the A417.

The next stretch takes us on a Roman alignment to Newtown, where we cross the primary A4103 Hereford to Worcester Road. We then cross the single carriageway A465 at a roundabout at Burley Gate before reaching the terminus of the A417, at a T junction on the A49 near Hope Under Dinmore, a few miles south of Leominster. Just to the south, on the A49 is Queenswood Country Park, which has a view point offering spectacular views over the Herefordshire Countryside.

Original Author(s): Ritchie Swann & Simon Davies

A417

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