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A5/Stony Stratford - Crick

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A5
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From:  Stony Stratford (SP774415)
To:  Crick (SP565736)
Meets:  A5, A422, A508, A43, A45, A361, A428, A5
Highway Authorities

National Highways

Counties

Northamptonshire

Route outline (key)
Arrownorthwest.jpg North Crick - Tamworth
A5 Stony Stratford - Crick
South Arrowsoutheast.jpg Dunstable - Stony Stratford

South East | North West

From a large light-controlled roundabout—where we meet the original A5 coming in from Old Stratford, the A422 and the A508. The A5 now shoots off northwestward in forthright Roman style across the Northamptonshire countryside. Though to tell the truth, it is only for the first few miles of this section that the proverbial Roman straightness remains clearly evident.

Soon we are descending into Towcester, which retains very much the look of a coaching town and mostly 18th-century buildings crowd the road. There were, apparently, 20 inns here before the railway revolution; there seem to be plenty of pubs still and several hostelries make a point of advertising their room prices prominently. The Brackley - Northampton road (A43) once crossed Watling Street in the town centre. A dual-carriageway bypass now takes it around the northwestern side of Towcester.

Imperceptibly to the traveller but clearly enough on the map, there is a slight turn to a more northerly course on leaving Towcester town centre, as the A5 crosses first the River Tove then, at a roundabout, the A43. It is unusual for Roman roads to change their alignments on low ground: the explanation here is that the turn took place within the walls of Lactodorum, the prosperous Romano-British town which stood here for four centuries (an interesting map is to be found... outside Towcester Morrisons!).

Weedon
200 years ago Weedon was a focal point in the country's communications system. In a way reminiscent of today's freight depots gathering near key motorway interchanges, this point near the centre of the Thames - Mersey / Severn - Trent canal system (forerunner of the M1/M6/M5) was selected for the establishment of extensive military barracks and stores: as well as being easily, if slowly, suppliable by water, it was the place in England judged the most remote from the threat of a fast seaborne invasion!

So far our journey along the A5 has not afforded any really long-distance views; however, on passing Foster's Booth (about 4 miles out from Towcester), a wide vista suddenly opens out across the broad valley of the Nene to our right. Road, rail and canal all finally come together at Weedon Bec (light-controlled junction with the A45). Thomas Telford's Holyhead Road diverged from Watling Street here, to run by way of Daventry, Coventry, Birmingham and Wolverhampton before rejoining today's A5 at the point where the eponymous town of Telford now stands.

Soon the M1 joins our happy band but it will be a few miles before we actually see it as it is hidden behind the railway embankment to our right. Some 5 miles from Weedon, as we descend a slope just after passing the B5385 turn to Watford, the railway bends, passes beneath us, and zooms off at a 30 degree angle to our left, while at a similar angle to our right we see the canal struggling painfully uphill through the Watford Flight. And just after that, we finally catch sight of the M1, just before it throws off its M45 spur.

On the lefthand side of the A5, and level with the aforementioned motorway junction, is... Watford Gap. No, not the notorious motorway services of that name—they are a mile or two nearer London—but the original farm (now uninhabited and rather tumbledown) which has stood here for hundreds of years. Watford Gap is a "gap" in that here is where the ridge is easiest to cross: on the ground, though, it feels like the highest point in the district!). In pre-turnpike days, the inn stood at the oblique intersection of Watling Street with the old Northampton - Rugby road, which took a more southerly route than today's A428: running south of Althorp Park and by way of Great Brington, Long Buckby, Watford and Kilsby. The A5 now follows that route towards Kilsby, the onward Roman road having been abandoned as a way over the ridge at this point, though the M1 follows hard alongside the old route (now just a track, but still a public right-of-way) for just under a mile.

Dropping down to the edge of Kilsby village we come to a roundabout junction with the end of that great warhorse of A-roads, the A361 ...from Ilfracombe. Now we take over that road's northward direction, gradually descending the ridge (passing over both the main railway line and the Northampton loop) before crossing the A428 at the Halfway House pub and rejoining the original Watling Street alignment a mile and a half after Kilsby (the connection from this point back to the A428 is also numbered A5). The flat land at the bottom of the slope is now occupied by the extensive Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal.

South East | North West



A5
Sections
Projects
Junctions
Abbey Hill Roundabout • Anglesey Arms Roundabout • Antelope Roundabout • Bayston Hill Roundabout • Brockley Interchange • Caldecotte Interchange • Canons Corner • Carreg Bran Interchange • Centurion Junction • Chalton Interchange • Churchbridge • Churncote Roundabout • Cluddley Interchange • Crackleybank Interchange • Crick Interchange • Cross in Hand • Dalar Hir Interchange • DIRFT Rugby East Roundabout • DIRFT Rugby North Roundabout • Dodwells Roundabout • Dordon Roundabout • Druid Junction • Dunstable Crossroads • Edgebold Roundabout • Emstrey Island • Felton Butler Roundabout • Five Crosses • Forge Interchange • Friars Wash • Gailey Interchange • Gailey Island • Gibbet Roundabout • Glan Menai Junction • Glascote Interchange • Gledrid Roundabout • Grendon Roundabout • Halfway House Roundabout (Northants) • Halton Roundabout • High Cross • Higham Roundabout • Hockliffe Crossroads • Hollinswood Interchange • Holly Lane Roundabout • Kelly's Kitchen Roundabout • Kilsby • King Harry Junction • Limekiln Bank Roundabout • Little Brickhill Interchange • Llys y Gwynt Interchange • Longford Island • Longshoot • M42 J10 • Mancetter Roundabout • Marble Arch • Marylebone Flyover • Mile End Roundabout • Mile Oak Junction • Muckley Corner • Nant Turnpike Interchange • Norton Canes Interchange • Old Stratford Roundabout • Park Street Roundabout • Peahen Crossroads • Pen Caledog Interchange • Pickmere Roundabout • Portway Roundabout (Milton Keynes) • Preston Island • Priorslee Interchange • Priorslee Roundabout • Queens Head Junction • Red Gate • Redmoor Roundabout • Rising Sun (Brownhills) • Sheeps Lane Roundabout • Smockington Hollow • Staples Corner • Stretton Baskerville • The Column Roundabout • The Turf • Thorn Roundabout • Tove Roundabout • Ventura Park Interchange • Wall Island • Waterloo Bridge (Caernarfonshire) • Watford Crossroads • Weedon Crossroads • Weedon Roundabout • Weeford Interchange • Whitehurst Roundabout • Whittington Roundabout • Wolfshead Roundabout • Woodcote Roundabout • Wynns Corner
Services
Crossings
Roads
Places
Miscellaneous
Related Pictures
View gallery (315)
A6 Peahen - Coppermine - 3051.jpgPre-Worboys Sign on B4038 in Kilsby Close Up - Coppermine - 23313.jpgView east along the A5 from Caer-glaw Xroads - Geograph - 971481.jpgNorton Canes Interchange.pngLock gear and bridge detail at Gailey, Staffordshire - Geograph - 2670554.jpg
Other nearby roads
Milton Keynes
NCN51 • A5 • A50 • A421 • A422 • A506 (Hockliffe - Northampton) • A508 • A509 • A4146 • A5130 • B488 • B526 • B557 • B4033 • B4034 • C5 (Milton Keynes) • C9 (Milton Keynes) • C13 (Milton Keynes) • C24 (Milton Keynes) • C41 (Milton Keynes) • C129 (Milton Keynes) • C130 (Milton Keynes) • C131 (Milton Keynes) • C132 (Milton Keynes) • C140 (Milton Keynes) • C141 (Milton Keynes) • C142 (Milton Keynes) • C143 (Milton Keynes) • C144 (Milton Keynes) • C145 (Milton Keynes) • C146 (Milton Keynes) • C147 (Milton Keynes) • C149 (Milton Keynes) • C150 (Milton Keynes) • C151 (Milton Keynes) • C152 (Milton Keynes) • C154 (Milton Keynes) • C155 (Milton Keynes) • C156 (Milton Keynes) • C157 (Milton Keynes) • C158 (Milton Keynes) • C159 (Milton Keynes) • C160 (Milton Keynes) • C162 (Milton Keynes) • C179 (Milton Keynes) • C181 (Milton Keynes) • E13 • E31 (via Carlisle) • E33 (London - Glasgow) • H1 (Milton Keynes) • H2 (Milton Keynes) • H3 (Milton Keynes) • H4 (Milton Keynes) • H5 (Milton Keynes) • H6 (Milton Keynes) • H7 (Milton Keynes) • H8 (Milton Keynes) • H9 (Milton Keynes) • H10 (Milton Keynes) • Holyhead Road • M1 • T11 (Britain) • V1 (Milton Keynes) • V2 (Milton Keynes) • V3 (Milton Keynes) • V4 (Milton Keynes) • V5 (Milton Keynes) • V6 (Milton Keynes) • V7 (Milton Keynes) • V8 (Milton Keynes) • V9 (Milton Keynes) • V10 (Milton Keynes) • V11 (Milton Keynes) • V12 (Milton Keynes) • Watling Street
DIRFT
A5 • A428 • M1 • T48 (Britain)


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