B229

The B229, a short B-road in south London, starts as Burntwood Lane from a traffic light controlled junction with the A217 Garratt Lane in Summerstown. That is a built-up but rather nondescript area between Tooting, Wimbledon and Earsfield.

The road is a useful cut through between the A217 and the A214. It becomes very busy in rush hour and has been traffic-calmed in recent years. The humps to start are the flat kind that make a visual impression. However, the crossroads with two minor roads has been raised up into a plateau-style hump. Ahead the former crossroads with Aboyne Road/Tranmere Road has been turned into a mini-roundabout. Past a secondary school and golf centre there is more traffic calming in the form of an island-protected bus stop and offset traffic islands forming a chicane. More chicanes follow and there's another new mini roundabout for Beechcroft Road.

By Wandsworth Common

The houses then stop on both sides for a cricket pitch on the right and the start of Wandsworth Common on the left. Presently we reach Trinity Road, the primary-route A214. There is no right turn onto Trinity Road from this direction. The left turn is marked for Clapham Junction Battersea Wandsworth A214. Continuing straight ahead into Belleview Road, the Common continues on the left with a row of trendy shops and restaurants on the right. We reach a traffic light and box junction where the B237 comes out from the right and we multiplex with that road (which is apparently dominant) along Nightingale Lane over the railway bridge which crosses the main lines from Clapham Junction towards East Croydon. Wandsworth Common Station is just off the B237 here. After the bridge is another light-controlled crossroads. The B237 continues the route forward here so we must turn left into Bollingbroke Road.

We now run along the east side of the Common and another set of lights is reached. Straight on becomes unclassified so we must turn right onto Broomwood Road. Yet another set of lights follows with yet another turn necessary. Straight on is again unclassified so we turn left into Northcote Road. There is a mixture of shops and houses along here and further along there are market stalls out six days a week. These shops and the market take us to the conclusion of the road at the traffic-light junction with the A3 at Battersea Rise.

It's a typical hodge-podge of a South London route really. In addition there appear to be no on-the-ground mentions of the route number at any of its many junctions - no direction signage en-route either, except for some cycle route signs. If you don't know where you are going; tough luck!

In 1922 the road only existed east of the A214 (then B233). It had been extended west by the mid-1930s.