B1281
| B1281 | ||||
| Location Map ( geo) | ||||
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| From: | Castle Eden By Pass (NZ411383) | |||
| To: | Blackhall Colliery (NZ461392) | |||
| Distance: | 3.2 miles (5.1 km) | |||
| Meets: | A181, A19, A1086 | |||
| Former Number(s): | A19 | |||
| Highway Authorities | ||||
| Traditional Counties | ||||
| Route outline (key) | ||||
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The B1281 is a short B-road running inland from the Durham coast.
It starts at a Diamond interchange on the A19 as the eastward extension of the A181 from Durham and heads east into Castle Eden, where it has to TOTSO left. This junction marks the original western end of the B1281; the road to the west was the pre-bypass A19.
Continuing vaguely eastwards, the B1281 goes through no other places of importance. Even the next village, Hesleden, is just to the south of the road. Finally, the B1281 enters Blackhall Colliery (one of many places in the area named after a pit which is long-gone) and ends on the A1086. The original route was along Hesleden Road but this road has now been bypassed to the south.
Although the pit existed in 1922, the A1086 did not. The 1923 MoT map shows the B1281 as ending in the middle of nowhere without even reaching the railway line. It seems as if it was planned to meet the A180, although when that road was built in the mid-1920s it was numbered A1086 from the beginning.