A4304

The A4304 is a medium-length A-road just on the Leicestershire side of the border with Northamptonshire.

The road starts at M1 J20 on the edge of Lutterworth, from where the A4303 heads west. We head east to bypass Misterton and go through Walcote. There's then an undulating section across the fields to North Kilworth, where the B5414 turns off to the left to cut off the corner to the A5199 (former A50). A couple of miles further on, after going over the Grand Union Canal, we enter Husbands Bosworth and meet that road ourselves. That road appears to cross at a staggered crossroads on the near side of town. However, the road to the left is one-way northbound; we meet the southbound A5199 one block further on.

Theddingworth

We continue east into open country and run very close to the county boundary for several miles; we remain in Leicestershire but the boundary is only ever a few hundred yards off to the right following the River Welland. We go through the small village of Theddingworth before bearing left to avoid crossing the river and cross the line of the long-gone railway line from Rugby to Market Harborough; one of the bridge abutments on the right of the road still survives.

On the far side of the railway we enter Lubenham, after which a brief rural section takes us to Market Harborough. We bear left at a mini-roundabout on the near side of town to follow Coventry Road into the town centre where we join the one-way system at another mini-roundabout. Eastbound traffic bears left to zigzag through the back streets to a T-junction on the High Street, the original line of the A6. We TOTSO right and head south past the church and market cross to traffic lights, where the westbound A4304 follows a straight road back to the other end of the loop. Now two-way again, there's a brief D1 section across the market place to another set of lights where we turn left. Ahead leads to the A508 but is no longer part of that road.

Heading east along St Mary's Road we soon reach traffic lights on the present A508 (which is actually where the A6 used to enter town) and then continue under a low bridge under the Midland Main Line by the station. We cross the River Welland soon afterwards before running through the eastern suburbs. A roundabout serves a retail park and we end at the next roundabout on the A6 eastern bypass. The road ahead is the A427.

History

The A4304 came into being following the construction of the A14 in the 1990s following a similar route to the south. This road was then part of the A427 which was renumbered to persuade traffic to follow the new road. The A4303 to the west gained its number at the same time.

Originally, however, the A427 only joined what is now the A4304 in North Kilworth (after which it followed a now-unclassified road via Catthorpe to Rugby. That road was not rerouted via Lutterworth (along what was the A4114) until the 1960s.