• History Along the A53: Buxton through the Potteries to Shrewsbury

    Though the A53 only covers some fifty-five miles, there is more history along it than you might expect. As a result, this post is slightly longer than some. The road is mostly rural, some of it dating back to the Romans, except for where it goes through Stoke-on-Trent, the historic centre of Britain’s pottery industry.…

  • The Land’s End Road: a history of the A30 – Part 2

    In the previous post, we followed the history of the A30 to the end of the seventeenth century. This post is about what happened next. Daniel Defoe was making his Tour Thro’ the Whole Island of Great Britain1 in the 1720s. He describes a trip to Land’s End, but how did he get there? On…

  • The Land’s End Road: a history of the A30 – Part 1

    The A30, at two hundred and eighty-four miles, is the third longest ‘A’ road in Britain. It’s too long, and too interesting to fit into one post, so this is the first of two, covering the history of the road up to the end of the seventeenth century. Setting Off The lure of the South-West!…

  • A57 History Part 2: Manchester to Lincoln

    In the previous post, I traced the development of the A57, from Liverpool, to the point where the Hyde Road leaves Manchester. In this one, I will look at the rest of the road, through Glossop, Sheffield, Worksop, and so to Lincoln. Finding a Road It is difficult to find evidence for any A57 road…

  • A57 History Part 1: A Road Between Two Pools

    The A57 runs across England from Liverpool to Lincoln, with King John at one end and the Romans at the other.