B2177
B2177 | |||||||||||||||||||
Location Map ( geo) | |||||||||||||||||||
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From: | Bedhampton (SU703067) | ||||||||||||||||||
To: | Fisher's Pond (SU488208) | ||||||||||||||||||
Via: | Wickham, Bishop's Waltham | ||||||||||||||||||
Distance: | 20.4 miles (32.8 km) | ||||||||||||||||||
Meets: | B2149, B2150, A3(M), A27, A2030, A3, A32, A334, B3035, B3037, B3354 | ||||||||||||||||||
Former Number(s): | A27, A333 | ||||||||||||||||||
Highway Authorities | |||||||||||||||||||
Traditional Counties | |||||||||||||||||||
Route outline (key) | |||||||||||||||||||
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The B2177 is a nice little drive over the top of Portsdown Hill and then down in to Fisher's Pond in south Hampshire.
Route
Section 1: Bedhampton - Wickham
The road starts in the centre of Bedhampton, with the B2149 and the B2150, and from here heads west. At a mini-roundabout it sends a short spur down to A3(M) J5, the A2030 and the A27. This section of the road would have formed part of the A27 before Havant was bypassed. The mainline of the B2177, incidentally, was the original section of the road which dates to the late 1920s.
From here the B2177 crosses the A3(M) on a large bridge, unfortunately famed for its suicides, and it runs past the forts until it has 3/4 of a cloverleaf junction with the A3, not bad for the crossing of two S2 roads. In the 1970s the road would have born left on to the A3 and ended here; to this day there is a stub to the A3. Nonetheless the road now continues over the A3, reaching a roundabout with another spur road, this one down to the A3 outside Queen Alexandra Hospital. The road involves a steep hill as it descends from Portsdown Hill and is now quite congested thanks to the expansion of the hospital and shrinking of its car park. This is where the A333 would have come up, the route of which we take over for a while.
The roundabout is also home to James Callaghan Drive, the main road along Portsdown Hill, and a well known burger van. We bear right to stay on the B2177 and turn rural, reaching the outskirts of Southwick and North Boarhunts. Despite this, the road is still good, as it runs through the Forest of Bere and eventually reaches the A32 in the centre of Wickham, where the road disappears for a couple of miles.
This section, before becoming part of the A333, was numbered B3033.
Section 2: Wickham - Fisher's Pond
On the other side of the small village of Wickham, the A334 continues the route of the A333. Eventually the road TOTSOs left and the B2177 reappears, still serving as the former route of the A333. It runs through Bishop's Waltham, meeting the B3035 and then passes the Marwell Zoo, the main attraction along the route. The road finishes at the B3354 junction, which consists of the former A3051 and where the A333 used to continue. Both this and the A333 were downgraded after the completion of the M27 and the M3, but the B2177 is probably a better drive.
History
The B2177 wasn't numbered in the original numbering scheme; the earliest known appearance is on the 1929-30 MOT map for a short stretch between the A3 and A27 at Bedhampton.