A333 (Winchester - Cosham)

This article is about the former A333, in Hampshire, linking Winchester to the A3 at Cosham.
For the current A333, formerly A3, in Hindhead, Surrey, see A333.

The A333 used to be an important route in mid-Hampshire, but has since been made obsolete by the M3 and M27 and has now been completely downgraded.

The former route started on the original line of the A33 (later A34, now B3335) at St Cross near Winchester and headed southeast towards a notorious traffic-light-controlled crossroads with the A33 Winchester Bypass. This was the final section of A333 to get downgraded in 1994 when the M3 was completed and access from St Cross sealed off. The road is now closed to traffic and used as a footpath.

Former A333 between St Cross and the M3

Beyond this, it passed through Twyford, Bishop's Waltham and Shedfield. This section has been renumbered B3335 as far as the former A335, B3354 up to the erstwhile A3051, and B2177 thereafter. It met the A334 at a side road crossing, which takes over the former A333 route as far as Wickham, resulting in a TOTSO. It then ran through Wickham High Street and met the A32. Until the 1930s, probably until the 1935 Road numbering revision, the route ended here - the road ahead to Cosham being the B3033.

At the other side of Wickham, it headed for Southwick and along Portsdown Hill, where Portsea Island can be easily seen on a clear day, before terminating on the A3 to the north of Portsmouth. This latter section from Wickham to the A3 was the first to be downgraded following completion of the M27 in the area. Despite this, it is built on a very good alignment as expected from a major route, with a bypass at Southwick that officially opened on 8 May 1972.