B4007 (Harcourt Hill - Harwell)
| B4007 | ||||
| Location Map ( geo) | ||||
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| From: | Harcourt Hill (SU657888) | |||
| To: | Harwell (SU487888) | |||
| Distance: | 11.7 miles (18.8 km) | |||
| Met (1923): | A415, B4008, A42, B4016, A417 | |||
| Now part of: | A4130, B4016, B4493 | |||
| Traditional Counties | ||||
| Route outline (key) | ||||
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For the defunct B4007 in Reading town centre, see B4007 (Reading).
The B4007 was an east-west route on the Berkshire/Oxfordshire border.
It started on the A415 on Harcourt Hill, between Benson and Nettlebed. It headed west via Crowmarsh Gifford before crossing the River Thames into Wallingford, where it met the A42.
Continuing west it went through Brightwell and Didcot (which has altered considerably since 1922) before zigzagging through Harwell to end on the A417.
In the early 1930s the entire road was renumbered A4130 to emphasise its importance.
During World War II the route of the A423 east of Benson was severed by the construction of the new airfield runway. This road retained a gap for some years before it was rerouted along the B479 to Crowmarsh Gifford and then the eastern end of the ex-B4007. This section of road became A4130 again when the A423 was removed from the area in the 1990s.
Bypasses have now been built of Wallingford and Didcot (although a short section of ex-B4007 in Didcot is still classified as the B4016), with the A4130 rerouted west of Didcot to meet the A34 at Milton. The former B4007 between Didcot and Harwell is now numbered B4493.