A1140
A1140 | ||||
Location Map ( geo) | ||||
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Portobello Road | ||||
From: | Jock's Lodge (NT283742) | |||
To: | Seafield (NT300744) | |||
Distance: | 1 miles (1.6 km) | |||
Meets: | A1, A199, B6415 | |||
Former Number(s): | A1 | |||
Highway Authorities | ||||
Traditional Counties | ||||
Route outline (key) | ||||
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The A1140 lies wholly within the city of Edinburgh, and is almost exactly a mile long and virtually straight and level. It is named Portobello Road throughout, which, except for its flatness, is Edinburgh in miniature as it has shops/showrooms, traditional tenements, local authority housing and private flats and bungalows on its short length.
Route
The route starts at the Jocks Lodge signalised crossroads which is named after a historic public house nearby. This is where the A1 has a TOTSO at the London Road / Willowbrae Road junction, while the A1140 sets off eastwards. At first a large block of tenements stands on the left, winding around two small garden areas, while shops and businesses, some in tenement blocks stand on the right. The tall tenement blocks are interspersed with lower commercial premises as the route passes a supermarket on the right, and then some greenery appears on the left, hidden behind a high stone wall. The ECML passes behind this and under the road at a shallow angle, with the large Piershill cemetery spreading out to the south, but with only a narrow frontage onto the main road. The wide alignment of the A1140 somehow feels even wider beyond the railway, and becomes more suburban with houses on both sides.
The majority of the buildings on the eastern section of the route are stone houses in short terraces, with a few detached or semi detached pairs. However, a block of modern flats stands on the right, and the tall brick tower of a church is notable on the left. At the eastern end, a large old brick school building has been converted to flats, and stands opposite a modern care home. The A1140 comes to an end just beyond this pair of large buildings, on the A199 at the Seafield Junction near Portobello. The B6415 continues ahead through Portobello itself.
History
The A1140 was the original route of the A1, which also ran through Portobello (now the B6415). This appears to have happened in the late 1940s, with the 1946 edition of the OS Six Inch Map shwoing the A1 still following Portobello Road, while the 1949 edition of the 1:2500 sheet shows the A1140 in place. At the same time, the A199 was extended eastwards along the old A1 through Portobello.