B4016
| B4016 | |||||||||||||
| Location Map ( geo) | |||||||||||||
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| From: | Blewbury (SU535855) | ||||||||||||
| To: | Drayton (SU476941) | ||||||||||||
| Distance: | 9.8 miles (15.8 km) | ||||||||||||
| Meets: | A417, A4130, B4017 | ||||||||||||
| Old route now: | B4493 | ||||||||||||
| Highway Authorities | |||||||||||||
| Traditional Counties | |||||||||||||
| Route outline (key) | |||||||||||||
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Route
The B4016 is an L-shaped B-road through Didcot in Berkshire.
It starts in Blewbury, a village on the northern slopes of the Berkshire Downs, and heads north from the A417 on the eastern edge of the village. The first mile or so, called Bessel's Way, is quite straight before the road starts to bend before passing through East Hagbourne and into Didcot. A roundabout is reached and the B4016 turns right along the pre-bypass A4130 to cross the railway line and meet that A-road at the next roundabout.
The B4016 heads north on a multiplex along the A4130, although prior to the A4130 bypass being built this was the main line of the B4016. After half a mile the A-road TOTSOs left and the B4016 continues ahead northward. Nearly a mile later it reaches a T-junction and turns left. Presently, after the signs marking the entry to Appleford on Thames, our road TOTSOs right in front of a level crossing of the Oxford to Didcot railway line and heads north through the village before turning to head west once more. The railway line is crossed by Appleford station and the B4016 continues through Sutton Courtenay before reaching Drayton. It ends at a mini-roundabout here on the B4017 (pre-bypass A34).
History
None of the route above was numbered B4016 in 1922. In fact, almost all of it was unclassified. The original route of the B4016, however, was nearby as it connected Didcot railway station (from the western end of Station Road) to the rest of the classified network: that is to say, to what was originally the B4007 but was soon upgraded to become the A4130.
The 1932 Ten-Mile Map shows the current route of the B4016 in existence and the original route (i.e. Foxhall Road, Didcot) is still shown as a classified road albeit with no number. Given that spurs did not exist until 1935 it is not known what number the "old road" had become by then, but it is likely to have been B4493, which is the number shown on the 1939 Ten-Mile Map and which it retains to this day, although the route of that road has since been extended at both ends.
