A4104

The A4104 is a cross-country road in south Worcestershire.

Route

Marsh Common, east of Baughton

The route starts as a left fork from the southbound A449 on the northern edge of the village of Little Malvern. The two roads run almost in parallel for a short while (our road descending, however, while the other one climbs) before the A4104 swings to the left, passing Little Malvern Priory, and beginning its eastward run on the flat land beneath the Malvern Hills. The road soon reaches Welland, where it crosses the B4208 at a staggered crossroads, the B-road having priority. Old maps show that this was once a straight crossroads.

Our route continues east across the fields passing a number of scattered buildings. Presently the B4211 comes in from the right and we swing to the left as we enter the town of Upton-upon-Severn. Our route north along Old Street / High Street is heading directly for the site of the 1854 swingbridge over the river; however – that bridge having been demolished in 1940 – we must now bend sharply left just before reaching the Severn and then turn almost immediately right at a mini-roundabout in order to reach the present bridge, which lies about 80 m upstream of its predecessor.

After bending right on the far side to rejoin the old alignment we run through Holly Green, on the northern edge of Ryall, before reaching the A38 which we cross at a new roundabout (2023). We continue east through Baughton and then cross the M5 with no junction. The road next crosses a ridge before descending again into the valley of the River Avon (the same river that flows through Warwick and Stratford to Tewkesbury).

The road briefly becomes dual to go over the Birmingham to Bristol railway line, after which we go through Defford and then run alongside the Avon for over half a mile. However, the road being wooded at this point, the river is barely visible. After road and river separate we reach the southern edge of Pershore. We head into town along Three Springs Road and soon reach a T-junction on the B4084 where we TOTSO right to meet traffic lights at the western end of the High Street. Here we turn left and head northwards once more.

Before the Northern Link Road was completed, we would’ve went straight on past the junction with the B4083, and go past an industrial estate and above the Oxford to Worcester railway line before reaching the traffic lights on the A44, where the road would’ve ended.

However, after the Northern Link road was completed, we now TOTSO right onto the now former B4083, and head straight on past the new housing developments. Once we reach the roundabout next to the industrial estate, we turn onto the new road where we head straight on and cross the railway line until meeting the western end of the Wyre Piddle bypass on the A44, where the road now ends. The former A4104 between Pinvin and the current road is now signposted as the B4083, (although the section near Wyre Piddle is still signposted as the B4083).

History

The A4104 originally ended in Upton-upon-Severn

The A4104 came into existence in the mid-1920s when the B4210 was upgraded to Class I status. This road ran only between Little Malvern and Upton-upon-Severn, where it ended on the A440. That road was the original number of the road on to Pershore and the A44 (present B4084), and when the A440 was abolished in the 1960s the A4104 took on its route eastwards.

Following the construction of the Wyre Piddle bypass in the 2000s the B4084 and A44 swapped numbers. In order that the A4104 should still still end on the A-road, it was extended north from Pershore along a short section of the B4082.

Northern Pershore Link Road - The 0.3 mile road from Wyre Road to A44 Abbey View Road / Wyre Piddle Bypass opened on 10 September 2022, the day of the accession to the throne of King Charles III. It completed a bypass for Pershore Station Road.