B1443

The B1443 is a cross-country B-road in the Fens. It was originally unclassified but gained its number around 1935.

The road starts on the A1175 (former A1) in the St Martins area of Stamford and heads east, initially on top of a tunnel carrying the railway line to Peterborough; as the road moves more into the suburbs the railway extricates itself but this is not visible from the road.

Even before leaving town we start to skirt the northern edge of Burghley Park. We pass the main visitor entrance to the estate before zigzagging through Pilsgate to reach Barnack. This village is famous for its limestone, used for many of the old buildings for miles around, and church with Saxon tower and one of the earliest spires in England. The road passes to the north of the village centre.

A mile or so further on we briefly run alongside the Stamford to Peterborough railway line and reach the Roman King Street. There's a sharp right-hand bend and we follow the road southwards for a short distance before regaining our easterly course. At both these bends an unclassified road continues along the Roman line. The road then goes through Helpston after which there is a lengthy level crossing over the point where the Stamford line joins the East Coast Main Line; there are six separate tracks here with quite a gap between the first two (to Stamford) and the others (the ECML).

After a short dead-straight section the road reaches a roundabout on the A15 Glinton bypass. Originally the road continued straight ahead here but access has been closed off so a multiplex is needed as far as the next roundabout south. This is the point where the A15 splits into the road through or bypassing Peterborough, meaning that the B1443 to the north is the only exit from the roundabout with a different number.

Folly Bank crossing, Peakirk

The pre-bypass A15 is followed into the centre of Glinton where it TOTSOs right to regain its original route. There's then a winding route into Peakirk (named after St Pega) where we TOTSO right to go over a level crossing on the Peterborough to Spalding line and then the Folly River. The road then follows an almost completely straight route across the Bedford Level for a few miles. We pass to the north of Newborough then cross the A16 at a roundabout.

A short distance further on comes the biggest detour from this straight route as we give way to an unclassified road and cross it at a staggered crossroads to regain the same alignment on the far side. Originally, of course, this was a straight crossroads which was then staggered for safety reasons. The reason the unclassified road has priority is because it was numbered A1073 until the A16 we have just crossed was built in 2011. Our road continues for a couple more miles passing little of note before ending at a T-junction on the B1040 immediately to the north of the A47 Thorney bypass.