B4040
B4040 | ||||
Location Map ( geo) | ||||
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From: | Old Sodbury(E) (ST763810) | |||
To: | Cricklade (SU109935) | |||
Via: | Malmesbury | |||
Distance: | 25.4 miles (40.9 km) | |||
Meets: | A432, A46, B4039, B4042, A429, B4696, B4553, A419 | |||
Highway Authorities | ||||
Traditional Counties | ||||
Route outline (key) | ||||
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The B4040 is a long rural B-road, mostly in Wiltshire.
It starts, however, in Gloucestershire, at a set of traffic lights to the east of Old Sodbury, where it meets the A46 and the end of the A432. For some reason the road is one-way to begin with and so traffic heading towards the A46 is rerouted slightly to the south to meet the A-road at a T-junction.
After the two halves combine the B4040 heads eastwards. After a couple of miles it reaches the first village on the route, Acton Turville. The road TOTSOs left just before the village on meeting the B4039 and then TOTSOs right then left in the village itself. At the final TOTSO the B4040 meets a spur which leads to the B4039: this is variably shown on maps as belonging to either road.
After leaving Acton Turville the B4040 heads northeast and soon crosses the railway line from London to Cardiff. It crosses the infant River Avon; this is the same river that flows through Bristol but it takes a somewhat roundabout route to get there. The road follows the river downstream - still in a northeasterly direction - via Sherston to Malmesbury, where the roads are quite narrow. It TOTSOs right by the war memorial before reaching a one-way system in the market place. Eastbound traffic goes straight ahead before turning left at the next T-junction, whilst westbound traffic has to go round three sides of the square. Leaving town, the road crosses a tributary of the Avon before reaching a roundabout on the A429 bypass.
The next few miles are winding with several scattered houses and a few small villages, for example Charlton. After Minety there is a set of traffic lights where the amazingly numbered B4696 crosses. Soon the road reaches Cricklade. It meets the B4553 at a mini-roundabout where it turns left and heads north along the High Street. It turns right at the next mini-roundabout and heads straight for a trumpet junction on the A419 where it ends. This last section was the pre-bypass A419 into Cricklade.