B3333

Route

Lee-on-the-Solent

The B3333 runs from the centre of Gosport to the nearby seaside town of Lee-on-the-Solent.

The road starts at the southern end of the A32 (SZ622998) at the eastern end of the High Street, alongside the harbour and with great views of the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth. Curling round past the bus station, we find ourselves on a single-carriageway road, South Street, running parallel with the pedestrianised High Street. South Street was nothing on the 1940 OS map; the High Street did the job well enough!

We shortly find ourselves on a little gyratory system at Foster Road (westbound) and Bury Road (eastbound), before continuing our journey much as before until we get to the Cocked Hat roundabout (SZ591998). After another small roundabout, we find ourselves turning slightly north and heading towards the Solent coast at Browndown. The surroundings here are bleak and military before we reach the eastern periphery of Lee-on-the-Solent town, having met a branch of the B3385 at traffic lights.

When we hit the coast, we run along Marine Parade, the main street through Lee and a reminder of what all these coastal towns would have been like in their heydays can be had between much modern houses. We finish right in the centre of town, where a little one-way system marks the end of both the B3333 and the B3385 from Fareham (SU561006).

Original Author(s): TS

History

The B3333 was the first new B road to be allocated in the 3 zone after the initial road numbering in 1922. It appeared on 1st April, 1924. However, the road was originally much shorter. Starting on the A32 where that road turned from the High Street onto North Cross Street the B3333 headed west along the remainder of the High Street then continued onto Walpole Road and Stoke Road to meet its present route on Bury Road. It then turned north along Ann's Hill Road to end back on the A32. It was not until the 1960s that the road gained its current route, some of which is a former railway alignment.