B3297
B3297 | ||||
Location Map ( geo) | ||||
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From: | Helston (SW665271) | |||
To: | Redruth (SW703413) | |||
Distance: | 9.3 miles (15 km) | |||
Meets: | A394, B3280, B3300 | |||
Primary Destinations | ||||
Highway Authorities | ||||
Traditional Counties | ||||
Route outline (key) | ||||
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Route
The B3297 connects the Cornish towns of Helston and Redruth.
This road starts at Helston's Clodgey Lane at a new roundabout with the A394 Helston bypass. It follows the route of the town's previous bypass and a section formerly numbered as the A394 to a double mini-roundabout where it takes Redruth Lane to the north. A spur leads from the second mini roundabout along Falmouth Road to another roundabout with the new A394 bypass. This section is also a re-numbered A394.
From Redruth Lane in Helston the B3297 goes northwards past Helston School playing fields and Helston's Fire Station on the left, then over a mini-roundabout with Water-ma-Trout. On the outskirts of Helston there is a larger roundabout feeding Lowertown and a new housing estate.
During the late 1960s or early 1970s the road was straightened from Water-Ma-Trout for about 1 mile towards Redruth, the lay-bys/loops of the old road can be seen on the left in several places.
Entering a new 30mph limit just before Amos Pumps the road has several bends, passing a pub and church before returning to NSL.
Just round another bent is the village of Trenear and Poldark Mine ([www.poldark-mine.co.uk]) before climbing a steep hill and a left hand bend. This bend had its inside hedge moved back in 1981 to improve the visibility. The road now gently climbs up to a peak before dropping down along a straight to Farms Common.
The road goes downhill again to Burras before climbing up through some bends, which had their hedges moved back and the road slightly widened in places in 1985, then another straight to another peak, after which there is a longer straight before the junction with the B3280 on the left.
Next is Four Lanes and its 30 mph limit, which changes to 40 mph down Butler Hill and Buckett's Hill all the way to Redruth. It ends at Redruth's Falmouth Road at traffic lights.
Apart from the above changes this road in probably as it was in 1950.
Signed Villages on route are, from Helston, Trenear, Farms Common, Burras, Four Lanes.
Speeds: NSL except; 30/40mph Helston; 30mph Amos Pumps; 30mph Four Lanes; 40mph Four Lanes to Redruth; 30mph Redruth.
History
In 1922 the B3297 originally followed the bottom half of Clodgey Lane in Helston to the junction of the current A3083 and A394. In the 1930s it was re-numbered as an extension of the former. A new section of road was built to the south west of the town latterly and the A394 was then diverted from the town centre on a rather circuitous bypass including the whole of Clodgey Lane and this new section. The B3297 got part of its original route back (the top half of Clodgey Lane) when the new A394 section to the south east of the town was built within the last few years. It also received the Falmouth Road section of the old A394.
Original Author(s): Jack Russell