A440 (Pershore - Great Malvern)

This article is about the original route from Pershore to Great Malvern.
For the unknown reserved route described as "Reserved for Bristol Road", see A440 (Bristol Road).

Route

The A440 was a medium-length A road in Worcestershire. It ran in a strange shape, almost forming a sort of 'u'.

Pershore - Great Malvern

The former A440 (now B4211) near Hanley Castle

The road began at a junction with what was the A44, now the B4084, in Pershore. It then - via a sharp ninety degree bend and a junction with the B4080 - ran down to a crossroads with the A38 near Ryall. After crossing the Severn at Upton on Severn (via a bridge that no longer exists just downstream from the current one), it turned north and ran parallel to the river for a stretch as far as Rhydd. The road then may have TOTSOed, with the A4021 continuing North to Powick and the A440 turning west toward Great Malvern. The A440 ended in Great Malvern on what was the A48 (A449 from 1935).

Developments

The A440 still existed in its original form until the 1960s but was then downgraded, with the Pershore to Upton section becoming an extension of the A4104 and most of the remainder becoming the B4211.

The westernmost section of the A440, in Great Malvern itself, still retained Class I status, becoming part of the A4532. This road lasted until the 2000s when it was downgraded, thus extending the B4211 to meet the A449.

SABRE Fallacy

For reasons lost in the mists of time, a popular myth in the early days of SABRE was the A440 ran from Powick to Great Malvern. This is untrue and the road running that course was A4021.