A1 in Durham

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jabbaboy
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A1 in Durham

Post by jabbaboy »

Just something that popped up when posting in the thread about residential streets and it's something I've always just assumed but I'm now doubting it. Did the A1 actually ever go through Durham or was the route via Neville's Cross already built before the numbering scheme came in. Tried Googling it and couldn't find anything about it either way.
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Truvelo
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Re: A1 in Durham

Post by Truvelo »

Looking on old-maps shows the route via Neville's Cross was already in existence by the time road numbers were created in the 1920's. It also has the name of Great North Road which seems pretty conclusive.
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c2R
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Re: A1 in Durham

Post by c2R »

SABRE Maps has the answer - https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/ind ... 13&layer=0

so the A1 never went through Durham itself, it bypassed it to the west on initial numbering.
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Rob590
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Re: A1 in Durham

Post by Rob590 »

I'm not certain when exactly the major route north started going past Durham, but certianly it was before route numbering.

There's an interesting contrast between this Bartholemew map of 1904 which shows it was possible to bypass Durham via Neville's Cross, but shows these as minor roads with the main route going into Durham; and the 1920 Bartholemew map here on SABRE which gives both routes an equal prominance.
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KeithW
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Re: A1 in Durham

Post by KeithW »

Looking at the material on Turnpike Roads the main route seems to have been along what is now the A167 via Nevilles Cross.
jabbaboy
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Re: A1 in Durham

Post by jabbaboy »

Thanks for that, totally missed the MOT maps when checking the Sabre maps.

Guessing it must have come around just before the numbering scheme by using the 1904 map above then. Learnt something new as for some reason I always assumed the A1 went through Durham at some point and Neville's Cross was a very early bypass like Chester Le Street.
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the cheesecake man
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Re: A1 in Durham

Post by the cheesecake man »

For all matters A1 Wolfie's excellent book is the place to go! :thumbsup:

He confirms the A1 ran via Neville's Cross from 1922 and never the city centre. However he glosses over the Neville's Cross route in one short paragraph then surveys the city centre route in detail.

Then a caption states "The Great North Road had two routes": An OS Map is annotated to label the city centre route as "Great North Road" but a 1938 street map has "Great North Road" through Neville's Cross.

This is a little uncertain, but clear enough to support the above conclusion that once upon a time the medieval route did go through the city centre, but the bypass via Neville's Cross was very early, long before 1922 and probably during the stagecoach era.
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