A559

Route

The A559 is an L-shaped road in north Cheshire.

Lower Stretton – Hartford

As you should be able to tell from the name, Stretton is on a Roman Road. It's King Street, which is also the A530 south of Northwich. The A559 section is poorly defined and not much of the straightness is left.

Approaching the M56

The A559 used to start in Stretton village itself totsoing by the church, but now it starts at the Stretton junction (J10) of the M56. It's an alternative, non-primary (and pretty nondescript) route to Northwich to the A49/A533 combo. Near the original end it passes between the pretty NSL village of Great Budworth and its mere. It reaches a crossroads in Lostock Gralam where the A559 goes left and right. This is the original end - left is now a spur to reach the A556 Northwich bypass at a signalised roundabout and the main route turns right through Northwich town centre.

Northwich (Roman name "Condate") is unusual in that it hasn't incorporated any of its suburbs, and many of them are represented by a different MP than the one who represents the town centre. I think the fact that on paper it looks like the town has a population of 20,000 (when it's really twice that) has discouraged big shops from opening here. I suppose that's allowed the place to retain a lot of its character though. The A559 (ex A556) is partly dualled through the centre: this is the Chester Way relief road. Then there's a one-way loop where maps claim that the westbound route is actually the A5509. The eastbound route shares the Weaver Bridge with the A533 (although traffic on that road is signed to take the B5374 to the west instead). The A559 then heads down to Hartford, home to Mid-Cheshire College and the place where trains on the West Coast Mainline stop (occasionally). It ends shortly after, at a GSJ on the A556.

I think that if the A556 was renumbered as A559, the original A559 should have been renumbered as part of the A530.

Original Author(s): Adrian Bailey

History

The road originally just went from the A49 at Stretton, south of Warrington, to the A556 at Lostock Gralam, east of Northwich. When the A556 Northwich bypass was built, the A559 took over the old A556 through the town. So the A559 has now doubled in length, and actually turns pretty much back on itself.

Original Author(s): Bob Sykes