B581

Dunton Road towards Broughton Astley

The B581 is a rural B-road in southern Leicestershire.

It starts on the A47 Earl Shilton bypass and heads southeastwards through the village of Elmsthorpe before going over the Nuneaton to Leicester railway line and the M69. It goes through Stoney Stanton, where there are a couple of mini-roundabouts, before making a beeline for the B4114 (former A46), crossing it via a long staggered crossroads.

The road then bypasses Broughton Astley, although originally it went straight through. The next village is Dunton Bassett and the B581 turns sharply left on the nearside of the village, again to run along a bypass, although on this occasion the road has never gone through the centre of the village. The B581 ends shortly afterwards at traffic lights on the A426.

History

The original section of the B581

None of the above was classified in 1922! The B581 is described in the 1922 Road Lists as Barwell Fields - Earl Shilton - it connected the A447 and A47 through Barwell, to the north of Hinckley. The road was extended east to Dunton Bassett in the mid-1920s.

By 1932 the original section of B581 had been upgraded to Class I status, becoming the A5096. It retained this number until at least the 1960s before being downgraded again, almost certainly regaining its original number.

Broughton Astley Relief Road was opened in 1983 and 1984.

Following the building of the A47 Earl Shilton bypass the section of B581 west of the bypass (including the entire original section) was declassified, giving the road its current length. Elmesthorpe Lane was severed with the building of the bypass and so the section to the west is now a dead-end.