Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

The study of British and Irish roads - their construction, numbering, history, mapping, past and future official roads proposals and general roads musings.

There is a separate forum for Street Furniture (traffic lights, street lights, road signs etc).

Registered users get access to other forums including discussions about other forms of transport, driving, fantasy roads and wishlists, and roads quizzes.

Moderator: Site Management Team

Glenn A
Member
Posts: 9751
Joined: Fri Apr 15, 2005 19:31
Location: Cumbria

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by Glenn A »

The former A2 Rochester Way in Eltham, once a congested nightmare through the middle of a housing estate, now unclassified and relatively quiet.
Closer to home, the A595 through Hensingham. Until 30 years a very busy road, with one part now a cul de sac where cars can be parked at random and children can play
User avatar
Brenley Corner
Member
Posts: 3847
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2002 19:28
Location: nr. Canterbury, Kent

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by Brenley Corner »

The former A249 through the village of Iwade and sole route to the Isle of Sheppey and the port of Sheerness up until the bypass opened in the 1990s: https://goo.gl/maps/nuj3pHmZZJpgBaFk7.

A bit closer to the bridges and we have choice of the old Sheppey Way built around 1959/60 and bypassed in the 1990s - https://goo.gl/maps/oCsiQoXfBneno1uH9 - or the Old Ferry Road superseded by the road now superseded; this was the A249 a long time and 2 road generations ago: https://goo.gl/maps/c5tdqRowciB1Nibq5

Tony
Brenley Corner: congesting traffic since 1963; discussing roads since 2002
SteelCamel
Member
Posts: 597
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2020 15:46

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by SteelCamel »

There's Old Edinburgh Road in Inverness. The name is a bit of a giveaway - though it was never the A9 (that's Old Perth Road - though both roads go to Perth on the way to Edinburgh). This was the military road. Close to the centre it's still a busy route, though one bit's one way and there's a TOTSO with Annfield Road, so it doesn't seem that special. Cross the Southern Distributor (A8082) and there's another TOTSO, and it drops to single track though still has houses along it. Further on the houses are on new estate roads that don't connect (except by footpaths), until you get here. You'll go no further by car, but a keen hiker can continue past Daviot to meet the modern A9, and shortly afterwards the old A9 (now B9152) at Moy - and on to Edinburgh.
User avatar
ajuk
Member
Posts: 929
Joined: Thu Nov 10, 2011 23:59
Location: Bristol

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by ajuk »

trickstat wrote: Sat Sep 18, 2021 07:44
ajuk wrote: Sat Sep 18, 2021 00:56
skiddaw05 wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 23:33 Does this road in St Neots count? It's still called the Great North Road by the look of it
Yes, that's a good example of the sort of thing I'm getting at. No bonus points because it's ends on the A1 and the name is a giveaway.
It doesn't actually end on the A1 but comes to a dead end here. Looking at the overhead view it is the northernmost part of the A1 section that was bypassed in the 1960s (?).
What I meant was that it dead ends where the A1 is.
I'm trying to see if there are more roads were you wouldn't have a clue that you were once on a main road unless you looked at an old map.
crb11
Member
Posts: 1630
Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2010 21:35
Location: Cambridge

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by crb11 »

How about Stretten Avenue in Cambridge, which used to be Akeman Street/Mere Way, the main Roman road from here to the Norfolk coast. (It becomes Mere Way about half a mile north of here, which gives a clue. Confusingly there is a modern day Akeman Street too but it meets the Roman road at right angles.)
[real name Colin]
User avatar
KeithW
Member
Posts: 19178
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2014 13:25
Location: Marton-In-Cleveland North Yorks

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by KeithW »

crb11 wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 13:35 How about Stretten Avenue in Cambridge, which used to be Akeman Street/Mere Way, the main Roman road from here to the Norfolk coast. (It becomes Mere Way about half a mile north of here, which gives a clue. Confusingly there is a modern day Akeman Street too but it meets the Roman road at right angles.)
Looking at the 7th series OS maps the line of the old Roman Road is shown but that was through open fields.
https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/ind ... 14&layer=0
Glenn A
Member
Posts: 9751
Joined: Fri Apr 15, 2005 19:31
Location: Cumbria

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by Glenn A »

Annettwell St in Carlisle, a narrow street which contains shops, houses and a museum, next to Castle Way. Hard to believe this narrow street was once the A595 until 1971 and handled all the traffic to west Cumbria and the Solway coast.
crb11
Member
Posts: 1630
Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2010 21:35
Location: Cambridge

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by crb11 »

KeithW wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 14:32
crb11 wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 13:35 How about Stretten Avenue in Cambridge, which used to be Akeman Street/Mere Way, the main Roman road from here to the Norfolk coast. (It becomes Mere Way about half a mile north of here, which gives a clue. Confusingly there is a modern day Akeman Street too but it meets the Roman road at right angles.)
Looking at the 7th series OS maps the line of the old Roman Road is shown but that was through open fields.
https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/ind ... 14&layer=0
I think that's because it was a bridleway (as it still is north of the A14) rather than because it was a Roman road per se. (I didn't think the OS marked them on maps unless there was a path or road following the same line.)
[real name Colin]
User avatar
multiraider2
Member
Posts: 3681
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2004 17:42
Location: London, SE

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by multiraider2 »

Still probably not quite fitting your bill, but the old A39 at Fraddon was firstly cut off by the new A30 dualled section and looked like this following the initial Kingsley Village development before ending up on expansion there as something which definitely doesn't look like a main road.
User avatar
KeithW
Member
Posts: 19178
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2014 13:25
Location: Marton-In-Cleveland North Yorks

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by KeithW »

crb11 wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 14:41
I think that's because it was a bridleway (as it still is north of the A14) rather than because it was a Roman road per se. (I didn't think the OS marked them on maps unless there was a path or road following the same line.)
It was a bridleway north of the railway but south of there the notation was Roman Road (Course Of). This usually means there are visual clues to the old road but its not necessarily a usable right of way. Wheeldale Roman Road in North Yorkshire is a good example, you can see where it was and some stretches are well preserved but others had the stones removed for local use so little is left but a parch mark in a dry summer.
https://www.megalithic.co.uk/modules.ph ... pid=206575

One interesting example is Greta Bridge on the A66. When that section of the A66 was dualled it took the route to the north followed by the old Roman Road.
User avatar
trickstat
Member
Posts: 8715
Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2014 14:06
Location: Letchworth Gdn City, Herts

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by trickstat »

About 60 years ago, this was part of the A1.
User avatar
KeithW
Member
Posts: 19178
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2014 13:25
Location: Marton-In-Cleveland North Yorks

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by KeithW »

trickstat wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 16:37 About 60 years ago, this was part of the A1.
At about the same time so was this
https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4734924 ... 384!8i8192

and this in Stamford
https://www.google.com/maps/@52.6513865 ... 312!8i6656

https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/ind ... ord_Bypass

From the SABRE Wiki: Stamford Bypass :


The Stamford Bypass, was a major road scheme constructed to the west of Stamford, allowing the A1 to bypass the town centre. It was opened on 31 October 1960 by Ernest Marples, Minister for Transport.

The project constructed about 4 miles of two-lane dual carriageway with roundabouts at each end - Carpenters Lodge Roundabout at the southern end and Tickencote Roundabout at the northern end). The northern roundabout upgraded to a

... Read More
User avatar
Alderpoint
Member
Posts: 1682
Joined: Wed Aug 19, 2015 14:25
Location: Leamington Spa

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by Alderpoint »

This used to be the A44.

And nearby, this , this and this were all the A422.
Let it snow.
Nader
Member
Posts: 364
Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2011 14:10
Location: Milton Keynes

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by Nader »

Couple of examples from Milton Keynes.

This used to be part of the old A50, then the A5130.

This used to be part of the A5
User avatar
Vierwielen
Member
Posts: 5661
Joined: Sun Jun 08, 2008 21:21
Location: Hampshire

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by Vierwielen »

How about this section of the Fosse Way (appropriately named "Roman Road") somewhere between Coventry and Leicester. Sorry, I don't have the "A" number for the road - I don't believe that the Romans numbered their roads that way. :)

The area to the right of this road (ie the north-west) was frontier territory and this road ran from Isca Dumnoniorum (aka Exeter) to Lindum (aka Lincoln) and was the main road for moving troops from one part of the frontier to the other, particularly during the first century AD.
User avatar
the cheesecake man
Member
Posts: 2457
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2019 13:21
Location: Sheffield

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by the cheesecake man »

crb11 wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 14:41 (I didn't think the OS marked them on maps unless there was a path or road following the same line.)
They often do. Here's an example at Bramham Crossroads:
Untitled.png
crb11
Member
Posts: 1630
Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2010 21:35
Location: Cambridge

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by crb11 »

the cheesecake man wrote: Wed Sep 22, 2021 13:06
crb11 wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 14:41 (I didn't think the OS marked them on maps unless there was a path or road following the same line.)
They often do. Here's an example at Bramham Crossroads:
Untitled.png
That one is marking a Roman Road where there's something following the course (the Roman Ridge), although a bit to the NW there's a case where it's just "Roman Road (course of)" between sections where a road and a bridleway take the old route.
[real name Colin]
User avatar
multiraider2
Member
Posts: 3681
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2004 17:42
Location: London, SE

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by multiraider2 »

multiraider2 wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 15:30 Still probably not quite fitting your bill, but the old A39 at Fraddon was firstly cut off by the new A30 dualled section and looked like this following the initial Kingsley Village development before ending up on expansion there as something which definitely doesn't look like a main road.
And this is definitely not what you were after, but it caught my attention from my earlier posting, because it's round the corner. Now called Narrow Lane. It's only narrow 'cos you stuck that extra grass verge in. It used to be the A30.
User avatar
RJDG14
Member
Posts: 8819
Joined: Tue Apr 16, 2013 15:47
Location: Swindon
Contact:

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by RJDG14 »

Swindon's Shrivenham Road, which feeds onto its Magic Roundabout, is an unclassified no-through road that used to be part of the A420, the main road linking Swindon and Oxford.
RJDG14

See my Geograph profile here - http://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/74193
The Swindon Files - Swindon's modern history - http://rjdg14.altervista.org/swindon/

----
If I break a policy designed only to protect me and nobody else, have I really broken anything?
Scratchwood
Member
Posts: 514
Joined: Tue Jul 08, 2008 21:44
Location: London

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by Scratchwood »

Until the A102(M) (now A102) was built, Tunnel Avenue was the main approach road to the Blackwall Tunnel south of the river

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.4869793 ... 384!8i8192
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.4917491 ... 384!8i8192
Post Reply