A425

A425
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From:	Warwick Bypass (SP266658)
To:	Daventry (SP569646)
Via:	Warwick, Leamington Spa
Length:	18.6 miles (29.9 km)
Meets:	A46, A429, A452, A423, A45, A361
Now part of:	A41
Primary Destinations
Royal Leamington Spa • Warwick •
Highways Authorities
Warwickshire
Traditional Counties
Warwickshire
Route outline (key)
A425 Warwick Bypass - Southam Bypass (A423) Southam Bypass A425 Southam Bypass - Daventry Bypass (A45) Daventry Bypass A425 Daventry

Route

I got very confused trying to find the start of this road as Multimap and Streetmap suggest a number of different places between them, depending on what scale map you look at. One is at a roundabout with the A452 (another A road with three possible directions, though two of them lead to the M40). Another possible start is on the A46 bypass, here which is supported by the OS 1:25,000 mapping as well. Whichever option you go for, they meet here at a roundabout just south of the river, not far from Warwick Castle.

Warwick - Daventry

From here, the road runs eastwards, crossing the A452 at a roundabout on its way through the southern part of Royal Leamington Spa. As we leave the town we come alongside the River Leam, which gives the town its name. We then pass the village of Radford Semele before reaching a roundabout with the B4455. To our right we have Fosse Farm, and to our left we have North Fosse Farm, for the B4455 follows the line of the old Roman Fosse Way, itself a good drive.

We carry on through the small village of Ufton, before we reach a staggered cross-roads, the right turn being the B4452 towards the M40 (Junction 12) and the left being a minor road to Long Itchington, which cuts off the corner with the A423.

Another couple of miles on the A425 brings us to a roundabout on the outskirts of Southam, giving access to an industrial estate, then soon after we reach another roundabout on the A423 Southam bypass. The original A425 turned off to run through the town just prior to the industrial estate roundabout, but we now join the southern leg of the A423 bypass to avoid the town centre.

At the next roundabout we turn right, back on the A425, and run across a flat expanse of countryside, crossing the Oxford canal at the foot of Napton Hill, just north of the village of Napton-on-the-Hill. We avoid the bulk of the hill, preferring instead to run alongside the canal to Lower Shuckburgh, where at last we have to begin climbing slightly up Park Hill. The road continues across a patchwork of fields, fairly straight for much of the way, until we pass through Staverton, where we bear left at a roundabout towards Daventry and a roundabout on the A45, where we turn right to multiplex (with the A45 and A361) around the south of the town. The A361 soon leaves the multiplex by turning right at a single carriageway trumpet junction. At the next roundabout, we go straight ahead whereas the A45 turns right.

We now form the eastern bypass of Daventry (known as South Way), becoming Northern Way after we cross Eastern Way. Northern Way runs past the Daventry Reservoir, then bears left at a roundabout to meet the A361 once again at a roundabout where the A425 terminates.

To the south of Daventry, running from the roundabout at Staverton to Newnham on the B4037, there is a minor road which looks as if it may once have been part of the A425. The B4037 continues this route to the A45 at Dodford.