B1380 (Peterborough)

This article is about the former B1380, which passed through central Peterborough, now part of the central A15.
For the current road in Teesside, see B1380.

Prior to the redevelopment of Peterborough in the 1970s, the city road structure, particularly in the Millfield and city centre areas, was vastly different to today. The A15 went from Werrington straight down Lincoln Road through the inner suburb of Millfield towards the city centre. There was no interchange with the A47 in the north of the city at this time, as the A47 went straight through the city centre, coming to a crossroads in Cathedral Square.

The B1380 was originally a non-primary road running parallel to the west of the A15, down Walpole Street and Westwood Street. This route was designated in the mid-1920s, after which it appears on Ordnance Survey maps up to the mid-1960s. From around 1968, when the New Town Designation Order was published, it was re-classified as a spur of the A15 - leading to the route and split structure still in place today.

Bigger changes lay ahead, though. From 1971, major improvement works resulted in the demolition of half of Walpole Street, as the A15 was upgraded to Parkway (dual-carriageway) status. Although Westwood Street was not as affected by demolition works, both streets lost their separate identities, becoming part of the new Bourges Boulevard (including the remaining rump of Walpole Street, now detached from the main road.

Strangely, the 1974 Ordnance Survey First Series Map 142 (equivalent to today's Landranger series) still shows the B1380 in place as a non-primary road, but without a number. As the mapping had been updated to 1972, this suggests that the rebuilding works had not been completed by then. However, the same map also shows the western half of the northern A47 link in place!!

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