A5 road
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| A5 road | |
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| Direction | North-west - South-east |
| Start | Marble Arch, Westminster |
| Primary destinations1 |
St Albans Dunstable Milton Keynes Hinckley Nuneaton Tamworth Cannock Telford Shrewsbury Oswestry Bangor |
| End | Admiralty Arch, Holyhead |
| Roads joined |  M25 motorway M10 motorway M1 motorway A505 road A421 road A509 road A508 road A43 road A45 road M69 motorway A444 road M42 motorway A51 road A38 road A34 road M6 motorway A449 road A41 road M54 motorway A49 road A483 road A494 road A470 road A55 road |
Notes
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The A5 is a major road in the United Kingdom. It runs for about 260 miles (including sections concurrent with other designations) from London to Holyhead, following in part a section of the Roman Iter II route which later took the Anglo-Saxon name Watling Street.
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[edit] History
The history of the A5 begins with Thomas Telford in the early nineteenth century. Following the Act of Union 1800, which unified Great Britain and Ireland, the government saw the need for improving communication links between London and Dublin. A Parliamentary committee led to an Act of Parliament of 1815 that authorised buying out existing turnpike road interests and, where necessary, constructing a new road, to complete the route between the two capitals. This made it the first major civilian state-funded road building project in Britain since Roman times.
Through England, the road largely took over existing turnpike roads, which mainly followed the route of the Anglo-Saxon Watling Street.
From Shrewsbury and through Wales, Telford's work was more extensive. In places he followed existing roads, but he also built new links, including the Menai Suspension Bridge to connect the mainland with Anglesey and the Stanley Embankment to Holy Island.
Telford's road was complete with the opening of the Menai Suspension Bridge in 1826.
[edit] Notable Features
The road was designed to allow stagecoaches to carry post between London and Holyhead, and thence to Ireland. Therefore throughout its length the gradient never exceeds 5%.
The route through Wales retains many of the original features of Telford's road and has, since 1995, been recognised as an historic route worthy of preservation. These features include -
- many surviving and distinctive toll houses
- 'depots' along the route, being roadside alcoves to store grit and materials
- distinctive milestones at each mile - many originals having survived and been restored, others now replaced by replicas
- distinctive gates in a 'sunburst' design, a few of which have survived
- a weighbridge at Lon Isaf, between Bangor and Bethesda
[edit] Tŷ Nant Cutting
In 1997, a section of bends on Telford's road between Tŷ Nant and Dinmael, in Wales, was by-passed by a modern cutting. However in 2006, investigations revealed that the rock face in the cutting had become unstable, and the A5 was closed from the end of May 2006 [1]. Traffic was diverted onto the old A5 route, on a stretch known as the Glyn Bends, whilst the rock face was made safe. This involved the removal of 230,000 tonnes of rock and alluvial deposits. In July 2007, the A5 through the reconstructed cutting was reopened.[2]
[edit] Route
 Marble Arch, London |
 Sign of Thomas Telford's Historic Route |
 Admiralty Arch, Holyhead – end of the A5 |
Starting at Marble Arch in London, the A5 runs north-west up the Edgware Road through Kilburn and Cricklewood. The A5 number disappears near Edgware, but the Roman Road continues as the A5183 through Elstree, Radlett, St Albans and Redbourn, to junction 9 of the M1, where it becomes the A5 again. From there on, it passes through Dunstable, Milton Keynes, Towcester then accompanies the Grand Union Canal and the M1 Motorway through the Watford Gap. The next phase to the Welsh border takes it through Hinckley, bypasses Nuneaton, Tamworth, Cannock, Telford, Shrewsbury and Oswestry before entering Wales just west of Chirk. From the English border, it continues through Llangollen, Corwen, Capel Curig, and Bangor before arriving at Holyhead.
[edit] Alternative routes
Parts of the A5 have been replaced by sections of the M1 north of London, the M54 through Telford, the M6, and the M6 Toll. The A55 route in North Wales is now the usual way to get from Chirk to Holyhead, avoiding the mountainous A5 route through Snowdonia and instead going via the much gentler Cheshire Gap and along the coast.
[edit] References
- Quartermaine et al (2003) Thomas Telford's Holyhead Road: The A5 in North Wales, Council for British Archaeology ISBN 1-902771-34-6
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Society for All British Road Enthusiasts entry for the A5
- Road to Nowhere: A5
- Nesscliffe bypass opened 21 March 2003.
- Milestonesweb entry
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