Durham: A690/A1051 and Crossgate

[Rob590]

I was looking at the entry in the SabreWiki for the A1051, a defunct A road in Durham, and the description states that it terminated on the A690 at Crossgate.

It certainly did for much of its life, and this can be seen on the 1947 OS One Inch map. The junction in question is slightly southwest of the train station, a crossroads at which two of the arms (the western and northern) are the A690; one (the southern) is the un-named on the map A1501; and the fourth (the eastern) is unclassified, the lower half of Crossgate which connects to the A177 just west of Framwellgate Bridge. This is the layout described on our Wiki, and which was in place until the road was declassified in the early 1990s.

However the MOT 1922-23 map appears to show the lower half of Crossgate, that is the eastern arm of the junction, as also an A road. At that same crossroads, all four arms are coloured red. This is repeated in the 24-25 MOT map. The implication being either that the A1051 crossed the A690 to meet the A177 on North Road, while the A690 was routed down Crossgate to meet the A177 at Framwellgate Bridge, or that the A690 followed its route shown elsewhere while the A1051 took a sharp right turn to follow Crossgate down to the A177 at Framwellgate Bridge.

The 1933 OS Quarter Inch shows something different again. Here at the same junction it is now the northern arm which is unclassified. The 1920s Phillips map appears to show this too. If accurate on this map, the A1051 presumably terminated on Crossgate as previously described, but the A690 proceeded eastwards down Crossgate rather than northwards.

Does anyone know how these roads wound their way around this part of Durham in 20s and 30s? I'm not an expert at all on the historical mapping so it may be that some of these maps are known as being more or less accurate than others.

The unclassified bit of Crossgate is the obvious-looking, and historical, road into Durham City centre from that junction so it would have made sense to classify it, but I suspect even in the 1930s it would have been unsuitable for traffic as an A road, as it is a steep, narrow, cobbled road.

[owen b]

Wow. Good spot . I spent 11 years of my youth living and/or schooling within a few hundred metres of that junction and I wasn't aware of any of that historical mapping road classification quirkery.

There's also some oddness I hadn't previously noticed concerning the evolving historic classification of Elvet Hill Road and the bottom end of Potters Bank.

[Steven]

Does anyone know how these roads wound their way around this part of Durham in 20s and 30s? I'm not an expert at all on the historical mapping so it may be that some of these maps are known as being more or less accurate than others.

Unfortunately, I fear that we may never know the whole story, but I'd suggest that the MoT map is generally pretty accurate given that's the point of them.

The 1922 list simply states "Loop in Durham", so that's not helpful.

OS plans generally don't have road numbers on them until around WW2. The earliest Six Inch map I can find with numbers in that part of the world is from 1947, and implies that the A1051 stops at the junction. The 25-inch from the same year says the same thing.

However... the 1950s RAC list that was found recently states "Durham (Stockton Road - Sutton Street), which looks to be north of the junction.

The paperwork for this lot SHOULD all be held in Kew at the National Archives, but...

[owen b]

The unclassified bit of Crossgate is the obvious-looking, and historical, road into Durham City centre from that junction so it would have made sense to classify it, but I suspect even in the 1930s it would have been unsuitable for traffic as an A road, as it is a steep, narrow, cobbled road.

Yes, I can see the logic in the initial 1922 classification of the A690 going straight up Crossgate, North Road classified as the A177, and the A1051 meeting the A177 at North Road and crossing the A690. I can also see the logic in subsequently declassifying Crossgate due to its steepness and probably its narrowness and cobbled surface, and rerouting the A690 along the former A1051, and thus shortening the A1051. What makes no logical sense to me is the 1933 map .