The A221 is really just a short link road in southeast London with a strange separate appendage.
Sidcup - Bexleyheath
The A221 starts its short journey from the roundabout with the A222 (Hurst Road) to the north of Sidcup and drops into the shallow valley of the River Shuttle. This stretch is called Penhill Road and a few years ago the London Borough of Bexley painted 30 MPH speed roundels on the road surface and put down a non-slip surface because of the sharp bends. There follows a dip in the road and we meet the roundabout with the A210, which is actually part of a GSJ with the A2. This area is called Blendon and the strange 'chapel' cottage is a cottage orné for the nearby Danson Mansion so that it would improve the view. The 'tomb' in the garden is in fact the cover for the well.
We take Danson Underpass under the A2 and take the second turning, which is Danson Road. On our left is Danson Park, a former country estate that became a public park in 1924 and was landscaped by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown. We drop into a small valley with a dam on our right holding the lake. The foundations of the original manor house are below this lake. Danson Road then climbs up with detached properties on our right. The mansion can be seen on our left and is Palladian in style. It was built in 1776 and has been restored by English Heritage. The stables have been renovated and converted into a public house. We finally arrive at a set of traffic lights with the A207 (Crook Log/Park View Road). Until the 1990s the A221 ended here, on what is the original route of the A2.
However we now turn right and multiplex with the A207 until we reach a roundabout in Bexleyheath, following the route of the Roman Road, Watling Street. The A207 bears right on a piece of dual carriageway called Albion Road and the A221 takes over the mantle that is the Broadway. We pass Christchurch on our left and then forced to bear left on to Arnsberg Way. This was built as a ring road when Bexleyheath Broadway was pedestrianised in 1987/8. Arnsberg Way is named after the area that Bexley is twinned with Germany and we pass through several roundabouts and sets of traffic lights. At one of these, by the police station, a spur of the A221 heads left along Mayplace Road to meet the A220 for Erith; this is actually the original southern end of the A220. The mainline of the A221 continues ahead and soon TOTSOs left on to the Broadway again. The A221 ends at the next set of traffic lights with the A207 and A220.