B5238
| B5238 | ||||||||||||||||
| Location Map ( geo) | ||||||||||||||||
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| From: | Hawkley (SD567031) | |||||||||||||||
| To: | Horwich (SD633118) | |||||||||||||||
| Via: | Wigan | |||||||||||||||
| Distance: | 7.7 miles (12.4 km) | |||||||||||||||
| Meets: | A49, A49, A573, B5239, B5408, A6, A673, B6226 | |||||||||||||||
| Former Number(s): | B6226 | |||||||||||||||
| Old route now: | A49 | |||||||||||||||
| Primary Destinations | ||||||||||||||||
| Highway Authorities | ||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Counties | ||||||||||||||||
| Route outline (key) | ||||||||||||||||
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The B5238 is a medium-length B-road going through Wigan.
The road starts at a roundabout on the A49 in Hawkley and heads northeastwards through Goose Green. There is a short green space (a dismantled railway line) before the next settlement of Worsley Mesnes. The road then reaches Poolstock, with the church by the roundabout, before running parallel to the Leeds & Liverpool Canal for a short distance to a set of traffic lights where, since summer 2020 it meets the A49. Prior to the construction of the new route, the B5238 travelled a short distance further north from these traffic lights to meet the A49 at the next roundabout.
There is then a multiplex north along the A49. Originally this was the B5238 as the A-road had a parallel course (now partly pedestrianised). The original line of the B5238 then bore right onto Millgate. Traffic can still do this, although the road is now unclassified and one-way out of town. The next time the B5238 number reappears is one block further east at traffic lights on the A573 (which reaches the A49 one block north of Millgate).
The B5238 climbs northeastwards through the suburbs of Wigan and eventually crosses the Leeds & Liverpool Canal to enter open country. After going over the brow of the hill the next village, Aspull, is reached. Here the B5239 is crossed at a gyratory/roundabout combo.
After leaving Aspull the road crosses more fields, crossing a stream into the next metropolitan borough as it does so. The road then enters Scot Lane End, a suburb of Blackrod, and reaches a T-junction on the B5408. Originally the B5238 ended here (with the other road being the A6).
The road was later extended, possibly in 1935. It therefore multiplexes west along the B5408 into the centre of Blackrod before turning right to regain its number and head northeast along Station Road, which was originally the western end of the B6226.
The B5238 descends steeply to cross the A6 bypass at traffic lights before continuing on towards Winter Hill, visible ahead. It crosses the Manchester to Preston railway line by Blackrod station before going under the M61. The road then passes through the backstreets of Horwich before ending in the centre of town at a T-junction on the A673. Immediately to the north is a roundabout where A673 traffic has priority over traffic already on the roundabout. The B6226 is the other road accessible, although that meets the roundabout in the usual way.
