A360

The A360 over Salisbury Plain

The A360 is a fabulous drive between Salisbury and Devizes over Salisbury Plain, passing close to Stonehenge. It offers a picturesque and enjoyable alternative to the A36 between Southampton and Bristol.

Route

Salisbury – Devizes

The road starts at a roundabout off the A36 where the Salisbury ring road ends. It heads northwards along reasonably straight, if hilly, roads. As soon as you pass the last house out of Salisbury it becomes NSL and shoots over hill after hill with nice views, before meeting the A303 at a roundabout.

The A360 just northwest of Tilshead

From here, the A360 heads north, just missing Stonehenge, before being diverted west at the Airmans Corner roundabout, where the B3086 continues ahead to nowhere in particular. The road to the right, which now goes nowhere but the Stonehenge Visitor Centre, used to be the A344

Now the fun really starts. Aside from a couple of villages it's just glorious views of Salisbury Plain all round, with the occasional tank crossing for company. The road has good views of the plain and overtaking is possible, given the relative infrequency of traffic. (I guess most traffic takes the A36 and A303 instead).

The road eventually winds its way into Devizes (which has a picture-postcard market square), and the road splits to pass both sides of the town. The eastern arm ends on the A342 at a gyratory near The Green, that route having also crossed Salisbury Plain on its way from Andover towards Chippenham, while the western arm extends along Long Street and through The Market Place to meet the legendary A361 at a roundabout.

History

Originally, the A360 started on the A36 in Stapleford, and headed north to Shrewton. At that point it passed through a brief multiplex with the then A344 before crossing Salisbury Plain to Devizes. In 1935 the first section as far as Shrewton became the B3083, while the A360 was rerouted to take over the former B3086 between Salisbury and Airmans Corner. There was always a multiplex with the A344 through Shrewton, although by 1956 the A360 number had become dominant. The A344 between Shrewton and Warminster was later renumbered B390, while the remaining stretch of the A344 past Stonehenge was dismantled entirely during the early 21st century.