B4431
| B4431 | |||||||
| Location Map ( geo) | |||||||
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| From: | Staunton (SO559120) | ||||||
| To: | Blakeney (SO665067) | ||||||
| Via: | Coleford, Parkend | ||||||
| Distance: | 9.6 miles (15.4 km) | ||||||
| Met (1956): | A4136, B4228, B4028, B4234, A48 | ||||||
| Former Number(s): | B4432 | ||||||
| Now part of: | B4228 | ||||||
| Traditional Counties | |||||||
| Route outline (key) | |||||||
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Route
The B4431 was a road that ran - at its fullest extent - from the Robin Hood junction between Coleford and Staunton, through the Forest of Dean to Blakeney. The road was originally unclassified but gained its number in 1924.
Its original starting point in Coleford was on the then B4432 Coleford to Chepstow road, just north of the town centre. It ran along Bank Street (now part of the B4228) before heading up Lord's Hill for half a mile until it reached Coalway. After passing through the Coalway crossroads, it then descended into the wooded area of the Forest to Parkend.
From Parkend, its original route was via Yorkley and Viney Hill to end on the A437 (present A48) south of Blakeney. However, the road was quickly rerouted to multiplex with the B4234 (Ross to Lydney road) for a few hundred yards through Parkend before heading uphill towards New Fancy, from which a short road takes you towards Speech House and the B4226 (Cinderford to Coleford road). From New Fancy the route then descended through Mallard's Pike, where there is a small picnic site that now includes one of 21 Go Ape sites in the UK.
Finally, after a few more miles travelling through the thick woodland of the Forest, and passing another picnic site at Wenchford, the road arrived at near Blakeney, where after another half a mile it ended on a T-Junction with what is now the A48 next to Nibley Mill Farm.
Soon after its original number allocation in 1924, the route gained a north-westwards extension from Coleford to the Robin Hood junction, once a fork but now a T-junction, on the A4136 at Marian's Inclosure, taking over part of the original B4432. Except for this northern section, which is now part of the B4228, the entire route is now unclassified.
Signage
There are a few signs on and around the B4431 that have still not been replaced since it became unclassified, the most recognisable being the information signs on the A48 at Blakeney, where the patching has started to fall off and is starting to reveal "B4431" underneath.