A231
A231 | ||||
Location Map ( geo) | ||||
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From: | Chatham (TQ756678) | |||
To: | Gillingham (TQ778669) | |||
Distance: | 3.1 miles (5 km) | |||
Meets: | A230, B2004, A2 | |||
Old route now: | B2003 | |||
Highway Authorities | ||||
Traditional Counties | ||||
Route outline (key) | ||||
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The A231 is a short road that takes the back route between two of the Medway Towns.
Originally the A231 started on the A2 Chatham High Street. With the rearrangement of the road network in the town centre the A231 was moved to start on the A2 one-way system at the northern end of Globe Lane. However, the loop has since been downgraded necessitating the extension of the A231 along part of it (which Medway Council's documents show as the B2003 [1]), to start at the northern terminus of the A230: the Railway Street / Best Street junction.
Running first southeastward, the road soon doubles back after reaching Union Street and the western end of Chatham High Street, to run northwest and then north along The Brook and Dock Road – once, when the dockyard was in its heyday – the province of thousands of bicycles.
Soon on the left the impressive dockyard gateway is passed: Charles Dickens's father used to work in the pay office a few yards through the entrance. Turning right at a roundabout takes us up a steepish hill past the Royal School of Military Engineering, just before the B2004 leads off at traffic lights towards the impressive Royal Engineers' Museum.
The A231, meanwhile, soon reaches Gillingham town centre, wherein it twists and twines round by the station, finally emerging victorious by way of Nelson Road. This is a section that looks on a map as if it's full of TOTSOs but in reality there aren't any. Now it's just a quick half mile up to Watling Street, the A2, where the A231 promptly terminates at traffic lights. Et voilà!