B957

The B957 is a rural B-road through Strathmore in Angus.

It starts by forming a one-way loop around the centre of Kirriemuir, which heads south down School Wynd, turns west onto Bank Street, meeting the northern end of the A928 at the far end; this is an example of the unusual situation where a Class I road ends on a Class II. The loop then turns right onto High Street, winding through a small square to meet the southern end of the short B956. A right turn here leads onto the narrow St Malcolm's Wynd, which heads east, becoming Reform Street before finding School Wynd once more at a spacious crossroads in front of the town hall. The one way loop maintains priority at this junction, including for the traffic continuing ahead into Brechin Road, which is the B957 route out of town.

Craigeassie approaching Justinhaugh Bridge

The B957 continues east along Brechin Road, passing a number of substantial detached houses hidden behind hedges, and soon leaves the town behind. The long straight continues out across fields, a series of kinks at Garlowbank doing little to change the direction of travel. The road does have some undulations, however, although it is for the most part slowly losing height. Eventually, the fields come to an end and the road goes through some wooded areas before a sharp double bend at Cairnhill. This leads onto a windier section as the road drops down to the River South Esk. After following the River downstream for a few hundred yards, it crosses it at the narrow Justinhaugh Bridge before continuing downstream along a winding route.

As the river meanders back and forth, the road enjoys two stretches along the wooded riverbank before reaching Tannadice. South Esk Road has a series of tight bends between old houses as it negotiates the bridge over a wee burn, but the village is quickly passed through. A series of shorter straights and sweeping bends continue eastwards through fields before skirting a wood at Tannadyce House and reaching Finavon. The route ends here on the A90 (former A94). Despite the junction being realigned when the main road was dualled, traffic to/from the westbound carriageway has to use a gap in the central reservation.

History

The original start point of the B957 was on the A926 at the western end of St Malcolm's Wynd. At the time the A926 made a strange loop through the small town, which wasn't removed until the 1970s. This led to the B957 gaining a few extra streets to form the one-way system; High Street was originally the A926, while Bank Street was the original line of the B956, with School Wynd added to the B956 route by the mid 1930s.

The 1922 MOT Road List defines this route as: Kirriemuir - Tannadice - Finavon