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A456 road

Coordinates:52°22′06″N2°19′41″W/ 52.36847°N 2.32794°W/52.36847; -2.32794
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A456 shield
A456
A456 clent.JPG
The A456 passing nearClent Hills
Route information
Length40 mi[1](64 km)
Major junctions
East endBirmingham
Major intersectionsA38
A457
A4540
A4030
A4123
A458
M5J3
A459
A491
A450
A449
A451
A442
A4535
A4117
A443
A4112
A49
West endWoofferton
Location
CountryUnited Kingdom
Primary
destinations
BirminghamKidderminsterLeominster
Road network
A454A457

Known as theHagley Roadin Birmingham, theA456is a main road inEnglandrunning betweenCentral BirminghamandWoofferton,Shropshire,south ofLudlow.Some sections of the route, for exampleEdgbastonnearBearwood,are also the route of theElan Aqueductwhich carries Birmingham's water supply from theElan Valley.[2]

Route

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Birmingham - Kidderminster

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The A456 now starts on Hagley Road atFive Waysjunction on the Middleway (A4540) in Birmingham. It previously started at the Paradise Circus junction with the former Inner Ring Road (A4400) but originally ran along New Street in the city centre. Heading West through the Birmingham suburbs ofEdgbastonandQuintonusing a mixture of dual carriageway and single carriageway roads, though maintaining at least 2 lanes in each direction. Just beyond Quinton, the A458 exits towardsHalesowen,while the A456 bypasses the town to the South, meeting theM5at Junction 3. This route was completed in the 1960s, beginning with Quinton Expressway and resuming beyond the motorway junction as Manor Way (the Halesowen By-Pass). Part of the historic Staffordshire/Worcestershire border runs along the road by Lightwoods Park, and today this is the boundary betweenBirmingham City Counciland theMetropolitan Borough of Sandwell.

The road resumes its original route on the West side of Halesowen, enteringWorcestershireand passing over theClent Hills.TheA491is crossed in the village ofHagley,where the road becomes single carriageway once more, passing through the village, closely followed by the village ofBlakedown.Beyond there a dual carriageway section takes the road toKidderminster,crossing theA449,before following the town's Ring Road to the North side.

Kidderminster - Woofferton

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Now on the West side of Kidderminster, the road passes the General Hospital before leaving the town and passing theWest Midland Safari Park.The next town ofBewdleyis now bypassed by a single carriageway road to the South and West, this road being completed in 1987. Just after Bewdley theA4117 road(toCleobury Mortimer) begins at theFingerpostjunction with the A456. Continuing West, the road is entirely rural in nature, passing theWyre Foresteventually meeting theA443at a "T" junction. The road passes just to the North ofTenbury Wells,theA4112providing access to the town, and then through the village ofLittle Hereford(therefore passing briefly throughHerefordshire). Between Newnham Bridge and Burford the road entersShropshire,and then entersHerefordshirefor about the same distance, before entering Shropshire again at its junction with theA49.The A456 terminates shortly after on theA49in Woofferton.

History

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Much of the road is almost certainly medieval in origin. However, the road was laid out, essentially in its present form (except where there are modern bypasses) by a series of 18th centuryturnpike trusts.

Birmingham - Blakedown

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From Birmingham toBlakedownsection was the responsibility of one trust established in 1753 to improve roads from the market house inStourbridge.Blakedown was then part ofHagley,giving rise to the name for it of 'Hagley Road'. Sections of the route have had other names. For example, the 1903 Ordnance Survey map shows the name "Beech Lane" byLightwoods Housewest ofBearwood,[3]and the area south of Hagley Road between Lordswood Road and Wolverhampton Road is still referred to as "Beech Lanes"[4][5]

Blakedown - Bewdley Bridge

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The section from Blakedown toBewdley Bridgerepresents two of the eight roads from the market house inKidderminsterthat were maintained by a trust established in 1759. The turnpike road passed throughHalesowen,following what is nowA458 roadand B4183 toHayley Green.Halesowen was bypassed around the south of the town in the 1950s due to rising traffic levels and the growth of the town, and Manor Lane became part of A456. Then in the 1970s, the Quinton Expressway was opened to connect withM5 motorwayjunction 3, when the northern section of M5 was opened in the 1970s.

Bewdley - Newnham Bridge

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From the Welsh Gate ofBewdleytoNewnham Bridge,it was managed by the Bewdley Trust established in 1753. From Monksbridge (theShropshireboundary, toWooffertonand so to Ludlow, the road was repaired by theLudlowFirstTurnpike Trustof about 1751. The intervening section was handled by the Hundred House Turnpike Trust of 1753. The Hundred House atGreat Witleywas probably the meeting place forDoddingtreeHundred. This trust was unusual in being responsible for several roads radiating from a place that was not a town.[6]

Bypasses and Realignments

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  • Bewdley (Bypassed in the late 1980s, now B4190)
  • Halesowen (Former route now A458 and B4183)
  • Kidderminster (Now follows the route of the Ring Road rather than through the town centre)

Notable places

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Water Crossings

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The road crosses a number of water coursesalong its route, both natural and human-made. Traveling eastbound, one will cross Gosford Brook,River Teme,Ledwyche Brook,Corn Brook,River Rea,River Severn,RiverStour,(in both Kidderminster and Halesowen), theStaffordshire and Worcestershire Canal,theElan Aqueductand theBCN Main Line,along with many other smaller streams and brooks.

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John Combe's 2008 bookGet Your Kicks on the A456(ISBN-10: 0955048206) documents the contributions made by musicians from the Kidderminster and Wyre Forest areas to pop and rock music between the mid-1950s and the 1970s, with reference to bands such asChicken ShackandLed Zeppelin.

References

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  1. ^"Driving directions to 52.312211, -2.704613".Google Maps.Retrieved17 April2014.
  2. ^Ordnance Survey map, 1:2500 scale, 1903, annotation at junction of Hagley Road and Barnsley Road, Bearwood.
  3. ^Ordnance Survey map, 1903
  4. ^Ordnance Survey map, Sheet 139, Birmingham, 1990 edition
  5. ^Office for National Statistics, area designation for enumerators working on 2011 Census
  6. ^Details of the trusts are taken from the originalActs of Parliamentestablishing the trusts.

52°22′06″N2°19′41″W/ 52.36847°N 2.32794°W/52.36847; -2.32794