B3124
| B3124 | |||||||||||||
| Location Map ( geo) | |||||||||||||
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| From: | Clevedon (ST477757) | ||||||||||||
| To: | Portishead (ST415715) | ||||||||||||
| Via: | Walton-in-Gordano, Weston-in-Gordano | ||||||||||||
| Distance: | 6 miles (9.7 km) | ||||||||||||
| Meets: | B3130, A369 | ||||||||||||
| Former Number(s): | B3131, B3132 | ||||||||||||
| Old route now: | A369, B3129 | ||||||||||||
| Primary Destinations | |||||||||||||
| Highway Authorities | |||||||||||||
| Traditional Counties | |||||||||||||
| Route outline (key) | |||||||||||||
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Route
The B3124 runs between Clevedon and Portishead, through the picturesque Gordano Valley. It is an important route connecting two large towns in North Somerset, but also a very confused route. In Clevedon, no-one really knows where it goes, and in Portishead it has been adjusted several times as other roads came and went.
For the sake of arguing, we shall start our tour on Clevedon's eastern edge, at the junction with Tickenham Road (the B3130), Walton Road and Old Street. The road runs North through East Clevedon and the Swiss Valley to the junction with Holly Lane, another B road (possibly the B3124).
We leave Clevedon behind, pass through Walton in Gordano and the bigger Weston in Gordano, before reaching the southern edge of Portishead at North Weston. The road, now Clevedon Road, twists around the grounds of Gordano School, before splitting at a triangular junction. This is the former A369, (previously B3124!) from Bristol to Portishead. However, with the new bypass of Wyndham Way, both spurs are now part of the B3124.
The right-hand route, running east along Bristol Road crosses a river and joins the A369 at a roundabout on the edge of the town. The left-hand route runs north up the High Street, joining the A369 at the end of the bypass on Station Road. The old station used to stand here, before being demolished to make way for road improvements. The new station faired even less well, being closed after less than 30 years. However, there are plans afoot to reopen the line from the docks to the town.
Confusion
You may have been reading this with a map in front of you, and thinking 'but what about the rest of the B3124?'. Quite.
Many maps mark Holly Lane in Clevedon as being part of this road, another spur or even the mainline, depending on your thoughts. The question is, 'how far does it go?'. B roads have come and gone in Clevedon too, with the OS and other mapping agencies being suitably vague throughout. Travel to the town, and it is unlikely that any numbers that are on signs will make any kind of sense. You see, even North Somerset Council, the Highway Authority responsible apparently don't know, they know which roads are B roads, and know the numbers of the joining routes, but the great big circle from Holly Lane along the sea front to Old Street is just 'a B road'. To add to the confusion, the preferred southern route is now the outer circle of northern-central-southern ways.
See also B3130 and B3133 for some more historical notes.
History
The B3124 originally started on the A4018 Queens Road in Bristol. It ran along what's now the B3129 over the Clifton Suspension Bridge, and along what's now the A369 to Portishead. The road from Portishead south to Clevedon was the B3131 until c1935 when it became part of an extended B3124, and Holly Lane in Clevedon was originally (and as far as anyone knows, could still be) the B3132.
The truncation of the route to Portishead happened around 1955 with the creation of the A369. The section over the Clifton Suspension Bridge was renumbered B3129 at the same time.