A5092

This article is about the current A5092, a primary route in Furness.
For the original A5092, the northern half of the Barnet bypass, see A5092 (Barnet Bypass).

The A5092 is a short A-road in the Furness area of Lancashire. It forms the boundary of the Lake District National Park for almost its entire length.

Route

The road starts on the coast at a roundabout on the A590 near Greenodd. The road heads west across the River Crake before bearing right and heading out of the village. At Penny Bridge, an 'old' sign still shows the old road number A5084, painted over in white. The river valley is followed upstream and for a short distance we run alongside the river again. We now join the national park boundary and follow it to our destination.

Above Gawthwaite

In Lowick Green the A5084 turns off; this continues along the valley whilst the A5092 bears left and climbs out, although it doesn't get very high at this point. The road drops down to cross a stream before an extended climb takes us through Gawthwaite, where we meet the B5281. Presently the road levels out to run across a saddle, after which it starts to descend again. Another inlet of the sea becomes visible ahead before the descent becomes steeper. A couple of bends take the road into Grizebeck, where the road ends at a TOTSO on the A595.

History

On classification in 1922 what is now the A5092 cannot have been important as it was made up of three Class II roads, the B5279 from Greenodd to Lowick Bridge, the B5280 from there to Gawthwaite and then the B5281 to Grizebeck. The B5279 was quickly upgraded to become the A5084 but the rest of the route retained Class II status until the 1940s.

In 1946 a trunk road was created around the coast and this followed our route to avoid having to detour some distance north or south if only Class I roads were followed. This obviously saw the need for an upgrade and so the whole route quickly became the A5092, including the original southern end of the A5084 which passed through Greenodd. This is now blocked to the south of the village.