A633
A633 | ||||||||||||||||
Location Map ( geo) | ||||||||||||||||
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From: | Eastwood, Rotherham (SK432933) | |||||||||||||||
To: | Athersley South (SE348089) | |||||||||||||||
Via: | Wath upon Dearne | |||||||||||||||
Distance: | 13.7 miles (22 km) | |||||||||||||||
Meets: | A630, A6123, B6090, A6022, B6092, B6097, A6023, B6273, A6195, B6089, B6096, A635, B6100, A628, B6132, A61 | |||||||||||||||
Former Number(s): | B6377 | |||||||||||||||
Highway Authorities | ||||||||||||||||
Traditional Counties | ||||||||||||||||
Route outline (key) | ||||||||||||||||
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Route
Today's journey sees us travel from Rotherham to Barnsley on the A633. It's a journey of only about 14 miles, but of those 14 miles, a sizeable section of it is not on its original course, thanks to alterations at the beginning in Rotherham, and bypasses for Wath and Wombwell.
Rotherham – Athersley Cross
We begin just outside the centre of Rotherham by leaving the A630 at St Ann's Roundabout on a short length of D2 with a 30 mph speed limit. After a quarter of a mile we reach a roundabout (the first of many we will encounter on our short journey) where the road narrows to S2 and bears to the right in order to pick up the original alignment of the road, and takes us over a couple of recent bridges. We arrive at another roundabout and go straight on; to our left is a large retail park development with the usual DIY sheds and fast food outlets. We carry on and we encounter another roundabout with yet more opportunities for retail therapy nearby.
We go straight on and begin to climb uphill through Rawmarsh, with shops on both sides of the road, but as we crest the hill, we gain a very short stretch of D2. Shortly after that, the road opens up into a tree-lined NSL S2 stretch passing through Swinton Common. A roundabout with the B6090 interrupts our progress before we arrive at another roundabout, where the A6022 leaves us to go to Mexborough.
We take the second exit (half left), re-enter a 30 mph limit road and begin to drop quite steeply downhill towards Wath. At the bottom of the hill, where the original course of the road turns to the left, we go straight on at a couple of roundabouts, before we turn left onto the Manvers Way, a 40 mph limit road interrupted by roundabouts every so often. The roundabouts were constructed in the event of large-scale industrial development occurring on the areas of wasteland currently on either side of this road; some development has taken place but the roundabouts are still not really necessary. After a mile or two we encounter a roundabout where we turn left to briefly multiplex with the A6195 on a short burst of NSL, before regaining our number at another roundabout.
We turn right onto a very short length of 40 mph limit road, before yet another roundabout where we turn right once again onto the Wombwell bypass, a narrow 50 mph S2 road, interrupted roughly halfway along by, you guessed it, another roundabout. At the far side of Wombwell, we pick up the original course of the road and slow down briefly for a 30 mph limit zone, before going back to a 40 mph limit road for the run in towards Barnsley.
We arrive at a large roundabout where the A635 crosses our path. This marks the original end of the A633; it was extended over the remainder, a mixture of new build, formerly unclassified roads and a short section of B road, in the late 1920s. We carry straight on, now on a short length of primary route, before we once again slow down for a 30 pmh limit zone and climb uphill towards Cundy Cross, the roundabout where we cross the A628's path.
At the roundabout where we lose our very brief primary status, we go straight on, back up to 40 mph if you like as we pass through a residential area on the outer edge of town. There are a couple of sets of traffic lights to allow local roads to cross and a final deceleration to 30 mph or lower, before we finish at appropriately enough a roundabout on the A61, at Athersley, about 2 miles to the north of Barnsley town centre.