A271

Route

The A271 is a rural A-road in east Sussex.

Hailsham - Battle

Leaving the A22 at a roundabout which also marks the southern end of the A267, the A271 winds its way through Horsebridge village before entering the northern suburbs of Hailsham where it winds a little more with the addition of a crash barrier.

A271 from Hailsham

We then climb steadily via Magham Down and enter Herstmonceux - a well endowed village with a castle, and the former location of the Royal Greenwich Observatory (although the Greenwich meridian is some distance to the west).

The next village is Windmill Hill, which is slightly smaller than Herstmonceux, and after that Boreham Street, which isn't very big, but still retains a functional filling station. We descend with a fine view of the road ahead to the TOTSO with the A269 and turn left.

After a couple of significant straights and a couple of significant bends, the scenery becomes wooded for a bit, but there is nothing noteworthy until we reach Battle and the roundabout with the A2100 where the road ends. Turn right for the town centre and the Abbey.

Original Author(s): Adam Colton

History

The original western end of the A271 was slightly further east; it was extended back along the original line of the A22 when that road was moved onto the current Hailsham bypass.

Further east, the TOTSO at Hazard's Green dates back to the fact that the A271 originally continued ahead to end on the A269 in Ninfield. The road to the left at Hazard's Green has had a variety of numbers over the years, starting life as the B2097, then becoming the A2027 in 1933 and then the B2204 in the 1980s. The A271 was extended along this road in the 1990s, to pick up the original northern end of the A269 into Battle. The A269 reciprocated by taking over the former A271 into Ninfield.