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A4130

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A4130
Location Map ( geo)
Cameraicon.png View gallery (138)
From:  Burchetts Green (SU843819)
To:  Rowstock (SU477892)
Distance:  29.6 miles (47.6 km)
Meets:  A404, A321, A4155, A4074, A329, A34, A417, A4185
Former Number(s):  B4007, A423, A34
Old route now:  B4493
Primary Destinations
Highway Authorities

Oxfordshire  • Windsor and Maidenhead  • Wokingham

Traditional Counties

Berkshire • Oxfordshire

Route outline (key)
A4130 Burchetts Green - Crowmarsh Gifford
(A4047) Crowmarsh Gifford - Mongewell
A4130 Mongewell - Rowstock
A4130 Didcot - Harwell

The A4130 is a cross-country A-road in the South of England.

Route

Burchetts Green - Nuffield

Hurley

The road starts at the Burchetts Green Roundabout on the A404 near Maidenhead. The road starts off by heading almost northwards but a series of sharp bends means the road soon runs westwards. It passes the village of Hurley and continues south of the River Thames, which is far more winding. The road soon goes over a hill (which the river avoids by detouring to the north), then descends to pass a cricket field and meet the A321. We're now on the eastern edge of Henley-on-Thames, although technically we don't enter the town till after we cross the river.

After the traffic lights on the far side we enter a one-way system, although it doesn't appear to be one as our road, Hart Street, remains two-way. At the next set of lights we are forced to turn right and now we are one-way. The road to the left here is the northbound A4155, which uses Hart Street to head east along the A4130. There isn't really a southbound A4155: traffic is directed along Thameside, which heads south from the light immediately west of the bridge - but this road is unclassified.

The A4130 continues north through the town centre to reach the end of the one-way system. Eastbound traffic is forced to turn here to reach the Thames one block north, then follows the river to the traffic lights by the bridge. Continuing west, we lose the A4155 at a double mini-roundabout and head northwest out of town along The Fair Mile, a pleasant unfenced tree-lined avenue. This ends in Lower Assendon, where the road bears left and becomes dual.

The dual carriageway lasts until Bix, which is bypassed, after which the road narrows as it passes through Nettlebed Woods. We meet the B481 at a roundabout then multiplex with it into Nettlebed itself. Just after passing the old bottle kiln that road turns off to the right towards the M40 and we pass the church to leave the village. The road then climbs the Port Hill to reach Nuffield, the village William Morris, philanthropist and founder of Morris Motors took his title from (he became Lord Nuffield). His house here, almost next door to HMP Huntercombe, is now owned by the National Trust.

Nuffield - Rowstock

Level crossing on the Wallingford bypass

We descend for several miles now, bearing sharply left by Harcourt Hill (this is the original eastern end of the A4130) to reach a roundabout on the A4074 at Crowmarsh Gifford. We now multiplex south along that road, the Wallingford eastern bypass, to the next roundabout, where we regain our number and become the Wallingford southern bypass. We cross a modern bridge over the River Thames, which is narrower than last time we saw it although it's still fairly substantial, before meeting the A329 at the next roundabout. The bypass continues with two more roundabouts for unclassified roads and a level crossing over the preserved Cholsey & Wallingford Railway between them.

We rejoin our pre-bypass route at a final roundabout and head west, reaching another bypass almost immediately. We pass to the north of Brightwell-cum-Sotwell (two villages that have merged) and finally get back to the original route of the A4130. There's a sharp bend to the right then we descend Hadden Hill to pass a golf course and reach an out-of-town retail park on the eastern side of Didcot.

At the second roundabout the old A4130 bore left under the railway line but we now turn right onto the bypass. We start off heading almost due north along a road that's lined with houses. We soon TOTSO left (ahead is the B4016 whose route we have briefly taken over) and our road becomes more worthy of the name of bypass. We skirt the northern edge of town along a road liberally scattered with roundabouts serving unclassified roads. The now-closed Didcot Power Station becomes visible and we cross the Oxford to Reading railway line. The road now bears to the left, passing between the power station and an industrial estate.

After crossing the Great Western Main Line a roundabout is reached on the B4493 from the town centre, where the A4130 turns right to regain its westward course. It follows the railway line for a couple of miles although it's rarely visible. There are no junctions with the road until we reach a service station just before crossing the A34 at a roundabout GSJ.

On the far side we continue west in cutting then bear left to meet the B4017 (former A34) at traffic lights. We now continue south along that road through Milton Hill into Rowstock. We end here at a roundabout on the A417, with the former A34 ahead now numbered A4185.

History

The original eastern end of the A4130 in 1956

The A4130 is one of those roads that has been heavily extended since its original classification. The road appeared around 1930 as an upgrade of the B4007. This road started on the then-A415 at Harcourt Hill, to the west of Nettlebed, and headed west via Wallingford and Didcot to end on the A417 in Harwell. At that time the A417 continued the route east to Burchetts Green, whilst the current route west of Didcot did not exist.

In 1935 the Harcourt Hill to Burchetts Green road was renumbered A423. Then following the construction of Benson airfield in WWII the route of that road was severed. It took a few years for the two ends to be reconnected, which was done by taking over the original eastern end of the A4130, cutting the road back to Crowmarsh Gifford.

Following the construction of the current A34 the A4130 was rerouted to meet it and then took on the old line of the A34 down to Rowstock, so it still met the A417. The old road from Didcot to Harwell is now mostly the B4493. Other bypasses have also rerouted the A4130, for example at Didcot and, most recently, at Wallingford.

The A4130 was more than doubled in length in the 1990s when the A423 was abolished south of Oxford as vehicles were now advised to use the M40. The A4130 therefore took on that part of the road from Crowmarsh Gifford to Burchetts Green, thus regaining the original eastern end of the road with compensation.

Opening Dates

Year Section Notes
1974 Brightwell Bends Diversion Ribble Ditch to High Road, bypassing the bends west of the village. Shown on June 1975 OS Quarter inch map, not on June 1974 edition. Reading Evening Post of 20 February 1974 reported that traffic would be switched onto part of the new road during the next few weeks.




A4130
Junctions
Crossings
Places
Related Pictures
View gallery (138)
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Former iterations: A4105(W) • A4105(E) • A4108 • A4114 • A4115 • A4116 • A4125 • A4141 • A4150 • A4154 • A4160 • A4168


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