A2500

Route

Heading away from Eastchurch

The A2500 is a road across Sheppey, starting on the A249 near Queenborough and ending at Eastchurch.

The road starts at a roundabout south of Cowstead Farm on the A249 to the east of Queenborough. There is a brief dualled section to the next roundabout, where the original line of the A249 is crossed. The road to the right is now numbered B2231 and the remainder of the A2500 is a useless multiplex with that road.

We now head east across the fields, with the marshes to the right. To the left is the built-up area of Sheppey and we do skirt the edge of Minster for a short distance, ending at a roundabout. There is a sharp right-hand bend in the hamlet of Brambledown before the road climbs up to Eastchurch. The B2008 comes in from the left and we end shortly afterwards at a roundabout at the near side of the Eastchurch bypass. The road ahead into the village is unclassified and the B2231 reappears by turning right along the bypass.

History

The road has a history of flitting back and forth between Class I and Class II status. Originally, in 1922, it was the B2008, except for the section through Eastchurch which was part of the A250; that road went via Minster. Around 1960, the A250 and B2008 switched routes, with the A250 taking on the entire of the current A2500. Then, in the 1980s, it got downgraded back to Class II, this time as the B2231, before returning back to Class I in 2011 as the A2500.