A1075
| A1075 | ||||
| Location Map ( geo) | ||||
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| From: | Thetford (TL875836) | |||
| To: | East Dereham By Pass (TF995122) | |||
| Distance: | 22.8 miles (36.7 km) | |||
| Meets: | A1066, A11, A47 | |||
| Former Number(s): | A11, B1111, B1110 | |||
| Primary Destinations | ||||
| Highway Authorities | ||||
| Traditional Counties | ||||
| Route outline (key) | ||||
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For an earlier road also numbered A1075 near Swineshead, see A1075 (Lincolnshire).
Route
The A1075 is a cross-country A-road in Norfolk.
The road starts at a roundabout on the A1066 on the edge of Thetford town centre. It heads northeast to cross the A11 bypass at a roundabout and then continues in the same direction over open heathland that is what is left of the original Breckland, one of the most unpopulated areas of England, and one of the driest.
The road passes through East Wrentham, then travels through Thetford Forest on a realigned road completed in the mid 1980s to bypass Great Hockham. It crosses over arable fields and goes past the large Wayland Prison to the right before turning past the historic Wayland Woods (Babes in the Woods story - no not from The Sun newspaper!) to reach Watton, where it crosses the B1108.
The A1075 passes Tesco (again this part was realigned in the 1980s) then runs downhill out of town and passes Loch Neaton (in fact a pit dug for an embankment for the now-defunct Thetford to Dereham railway line). The road snakes and climbs up onto the mid Norfolk "plateau" then goes through another village, Shipdham, on a poor quality road before reaching East Dereham, now generally known simply as Dereham.
The road goes under the A47 bypass after which the road leading off to the right forms its eastbound slip roads. We then TOTSO right at traffic lights to go back under the bypass at exactly the same time as we cross a level crossing on the preserved Mid-Norfolk Railway. The road ends at the following roundabout which serves the westbound A47 slip roads and the B1135 which heads back south.
History
The A1075 came into existence in the 1960s. Originally the road from Thetford to East Dereham was the B1110. However, the section of road between Thetford and Watton was requisitioned to become part of the Army's Stanford Training Area, prohibiting access. A new road was cobbled together around the eastern side from pre-existing unclassified roads, which became the A1075. This met the B1111 east of Great Hockham and followed that road to rejoin the B1110, which it followed through Watton to East Dereham, where it ended on the A47 in the middle of town.
In more recent years the bypass of Stanford has been upgraded and part of the B1111 reinstated. East Dereham has been bypassed and the A1075 rerouted to end on that road at a GSJ. The Thetford bypass has also extended the A1075 along the pre-bypass A11 into the town centre.
