B4161

B4161 Birches Barn Road

The B4161 is a kind of semi-orbital route around the southwestern residential suburbs of Wolverhampton.

It starts at a light-controlled junction with the A41 and the locally classified U117 at Tettenhall, just near the preserved former GWR Tettenhall railway station. It heads generally southwest, keeping parallel with the old railway line and the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal through residential areas until it reaches Compton, where it meets the A454, which is heading west out of the city in the direction of Bridgnorth.

The junction at Compton is slightly odd. At first glance, it appears to be a standard roundabout junction, but in this case the priority rulebook has been taken to one side and then utterly ripped to shreds as traffic continuing along the A454 has priority over all other movements. From here our route heads east, multiplexing with the A454 for just long enough to go over the canal and under the old railway line (right next to the former Compton railway station, which just has a single overgrown platform remaining in situ) before turning off once more next to Compton Hospice, and generally heading southwards up a slight hill towards Finchfield.

Beyond Finchfield, the route passes the historic Bantock Park and Museum before meeting another Class III road at a light-controlled junction: this time it's the turn of the U112 on its way out of the city centre. The relatively nondescript residential nature of the B4161 continues, meeting the A449 at yet another light-controlled crossroads before heading sharply uphill and terminating on the A4039, which carries continuing rotational traffic to the east.

History

This road was created in the initial batch of road numbering in 1922, and features one of the most exciting histories of all classified routes: absolutely no changes of route or alignment beyond minor junction improvements.