B9052

The B9052 crosses the East Mainland of Orkney from the A961 at St Mary's to the A960 at Foubister.

Foubister

The route starts right on the coast at the northern end of Churchill Barrier No 1. It then follows the coast for about half a mile until the coastline turns to the south east, leaving the road to start its journey across the island. It climbs steadily along a short straight to a prominent war memorial, where the road also turns sharply to the south east, before returning to a north easterly direction. As the road climbs, the scattering of houses along the roadside diminishes, until it reaches one of the higher points of this part of Orkney, giving good views across the island and beyond. The summit, at 65m, is about half way along a long straight through fields, although it is only a slight bump as the hill is fairly flat-topped. The descent steepens to a sharp left kink, from where it becomes more gentle as it passes through Foubister, to Toab where the B9052 ends at a simple T-junction on the A960.

History

The original western end of the road was on the A961 by the pier in the centre of St Mary's, but with the opening of the roads over the Churchill Barriers after World War II the A961 was extended to the east to cross Barrier No 1 to Lamb Holm; this took over the original western end of the B9052, truncating the route slightly to its current starting point at the northern end of Barrier No 1.

The 1922 MOT Road List defines this route as: Foubister - St Mary's