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This article is about the road in Great Britain. For other roads designated A1, see A1 road.
The A1 is the longest numbered road in the UK at 409 miles (658 km). It connects London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom, with Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It passes through and near Hatfield, Stevenage, Peterborough, Leeds, York, Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne and Berwick-upon-Tweed.[2] For much of its path it follows the Great North Road. Several sections of the route are classified as motorway. The modern course of this ancient route diverges where it passes through a town or village that has been bypassed, or where new motorway takes a more direct route. Between the M25 (near London) and A696 (near Newcastle upon Tyne) the road is part of the unsigned Euroroute E15 from Inverness to Algeciras.
[edit] RouteSee also: A1 road (London) The A1 runs from the City of London at St. Paul's Cathedral to the centre of Edinburgh. It shares its London terminus with the A40, in the City area of Central London. It runs out of London through Islington (where Upper Street forms part of its route), up Holloway Road, through Barnet, Potters Bar, Hatfield, Welwyn, Stevenage, Baldock, Biggleswade, Sandy, St Neots and Peterborough. Continuing north, the A1 runs on modern bypasses around Stamford, Grantham, Newark-on-Trent, Retford, Bawtry, Doncaster, Knottingley, Garforth, Wetherby, Knaresborough, Boroughbridge, Scotch Corner, Darlington, Newton Aycliffe, Durham, Chester-le-Street, past the Angel of the North sculpture and the Metrocentre in Gateshead, through the western suburbs of Newcastle upon Tyne, Morpeth, Alnwick, Berwick-upon-Tweed, into Scotland, past Dunbar, Haddington and Musselburgh before finally arriving in Edinburgh at the East End of Princes Street near Waverley Station at the junction of the A7, A8 and A900 roads. [edit] Origins and historySee also: Great Britain road numbering scheme See also: A1 road (London) The modern A1 mainly follows the Great North Road coaching route used by mail coaches between London, York and Edinburgh. The many inns on the road, many of which still survive, were staging posts on the coach routes, providing accommodation, stabling for the horses and replacement mounts.[3] However, virtually none of the surviving coaching inns can be seen while driving on the A1, because the modern route now bypasses the towns in which the inns are to be found. A traditional starting point of the Great North Road was Smithfield in Central London. Distances on the road were computed from the now demolished Hicks Hall, situated at the south end of St John Street, just to the north of Smithfield Market.[4] The route ran from Smithfield up St John Street to the Angel Islington. However, with the building of the General Post Office at St Martin's-le-Grand in 1829, coaches started using an alternative route, used by the modern A1, beginning at the GPO building and following Aldersgate Street and Goswell Road before joining the old route at the Angel. The Angel was an important staging post on the route.[5] The next important stages were Barnet, Hatfield, Baldock, Biggleswade and Alconbury, all replete with traditional coaching inns.  At Alconbury, the Great North Road joined the Old North Road, an older route from London which follows the Roman Ermine Street. Here a milestone records mileages to London via both routes: 65 by the Old North Road and 68 by the Great North Road.[6] From Alconbury the Great North Road follows the line of Ermine Street north, through Stilton and Stamford as far as Colsterworth (at the A151 junction). Inns on this section include the George at Stamford and the Bell Inn at Stilton, the original sellers of Stilton cheese. At Colsterworth the Great North Road diverges west of the Roman road and continues through Grantham, Newark, Retford and Bawtry to Doncaster. North of Doncaster the Great North Road again follows a short section of Ermine Street called Roman Rigg or Roman Ridge. Further north the Great North Road used the Roman Dere Street to Boroughbridge from where it went to Northallerton and then through Darlington and Durham. In the first era of stage coaches York was the terminus of the Great North Road, on the route Doncaster–Selby–York but was later superseded by the route Doncaster–Ferrybridge–Wetherby–Boroughbridge–Darlington, the more direct way to Edinburgh, the ultimate destination. The first recorded stage coach operation running to York was in 1658. This took four days to reach its destination. Faster mail coaches began using the route in 1786, stimulating a quicker service from the other passenger coaches. In the 'Golden Age of Coaching', between 1815–35 coaches could get from London to York in 20 hours and the whole distance to Edinburgh in 45 and a half hours. In the mid nineteenth century, under competition from the new railways, coach services were withdrawn. The last coach from London to Newcastle left in 1842 and the last from Newcastle to Edinburgh in July 1847.[7] Scotch Corner, in North Yorkshire, marks the point where the traffic for Glasgow and the west of Scotland divides from that for Edinburgh, as it has for hundreds of years before motor traffic. As well as a hotel there have been a variety of homes for the transport café, now subsumed as a motorway services. The road skirts the remains of Sherwood Forest, and passes Catterick Garrison. The original A1 was designated by the Ministry of Transport in 1921. The route was modified in 1927 when bypasses were built around Barnet and Hatfield. In the 1930s by-passes where added in Chester-le-Street, Durham and the Ferryhill Cut was dug. In 1960 Stamford and Doncaster were bypassed, as was Retford in 1961 and St Neots in 1971. During the early 1970s plans to widen the A1 along the Archway Road section were abandoned after considerable opposition and four public inquiries during which road protesters disrupted proceedings.[8] The scheme was finally dropped in 1990.[9] The Hatfield tunnel was opened in 1986.[10] A proposal to upgrade the whole of the A1 to motorway status was investigated by the government in 1989[11] but was then dropped in 1995 along with many other schemes in response to road protests associated with other road schemes (including the Newbury Bypass and the M3 extension through Twyford Down).[12] A 21km section of the road from Alconbury to Peterborough was upgraded to motorway standard at a cost of £128m which opened in 1998[13] required the moving the memorial to Napoleonic prisoners buried at Norman Cross.[14]  A number of sections from the Scottish border to Edinbugh were dualed between 1999 and 2004, including a 3km section from Spott Wood to Oswald Dean in 1999, 2km sections from Bowerhouse to Spott Road and from Howburn to Houndwood in 2002-2003 and the 13.7km "A1 Expressway", from Haddington and Dunbar in 2004. The total cost of these works was some £50m.[15]  Plans to dual the single carriageway section of road north of Newcastle upon Tyne were shelved in 2006 as they were not considered a regional priority by central government. The intention was to dual the road between Morpeth and Felton and between Adderstone and Belford[16]. [edit] Current developments[edit] A1 Peterborough to Blyth grade separated junctionsWork began in August 2006 to replace the six roundabouts on the A1 between Blyth and the A1(M) section to Alconbury with grade-separated junctions. These will provide a fully grade separated route between the Buckden roundabout (just north of St Neots and approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) north of the Black Cat roundabout) and just north of Morpeth[17] at a cost of £96 million.[18]
[edit] A1(M) Bramham to Wetherby motorwayUpgrade of 6.2 miles (10.0 km) of road to dual 3-lane motorway standard between the Bramham/A64 junction to north of Wetherby to meet the section of motorway at a cost of £70 million began in 2006, including a road alongside for non-motorway traffic. The scheme's public inquiry began on 18 October 2006 and the project was designed by James Poyner. Work began in May 2007, the motorway section opened in July 2009 and remaining work on side roads was still ongoing in late August and is expected to be completed by the end of 2009.[19] [edit] A1(M) Dishforth to Barton motorwayUpgrade of the existing dual carriageway to dual 3-lane motorway standard, with a local road alongside for non-motorway traffic, between Dishforth (A1(M)/A168 junction) and Barton (North of Scotch Corner), Which is the start of current northernmost section of A1(M), began in March 2009 and is expected to be completed by Summer 2012.[20] Once complete this will provide continuous motorway standard between Darrington (south of M62 junction) and Washington. [edit] Proposed developments[edit] Ellington to Fen Ditton schemeMain article: A14 road (Great Britain) The planned A14 Ellington to Fen Ditton scheme would require a new junction at Brampton, north of which the A1 will be widened to three lane dual carriageway from Brampton to Brampton Hut. The new 2 lane dual carriageway section of the A14 would run also parallel with the A1 on the section.[21] [edit] Sandy-Beeston Bypass
In 2003 a proposal for a bypass of Sandy and Beeston, Bedfordshire, was put forward as a green lighted scheme as part of a government multi-modal study, with a cost of £67 million.[22] However, the Highways Agency was unwilling to confirm the information as the study was preliminary and intended for future publication.[23] In 2008 the proposal was submitted for consideration in the pre-2013/14 Regional Funding Advice 2 Programme of the East of England Development Agency.[24] [edit] Other proposalsThe Highways Agency has also been investigating an upgrade of the A1 Newcastle/Gateshead Western By-Pass to a dual 3 lane motorway standard to alleviate heavy congestion which in recent years has become a recurrent problem.[citation needed] Improvements to junctions near the village of Elkesley, Nottinghamshire are planned—the village's only access to the rest of the road network is via the A1.[25] Consideration is being given to widening the Brampton Hut to Alconbury sections to 3 lane dual carriageway.[26] [edit] Legend and popular cultureThe highwayman Dick Turpin's flight from London to York in less than 15 hours on his mare Black Bess is the most famous legend of the Great North Road. Various inns along the A1 claim Turpin ate lunch there that night, or stopped for a respite for his horse. Harrison Ainsworth, in his 1834 romance Rookwood, immortalised this with a spirited account of this ride. Historians argue that Turpin never made the journey, claiming instead that the ride was by John Nevison, known as "Swift Nick", born and raised at Wortley near Sheffield and a highwayman in the time of Charles II, 50 years before Turpin. It is claimed that Nevison, in order to establish an alibi, rode from Gad's Hill, near Rochester, Kent, to York (some 190 miles (310 km)) in 15 hours. Even more unreliable evidence links highwaymen with the Ram-Jam Inn at Stretton, Rutland. The A1 passes a few feet from the door. In literature the Great North Road features in The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens. Part of the J.B. Priestley novel The Good Companions features the Great North Road; represented to the northerner Jess Oakroyd as the gateway to such exotic destinations as Nottingham. The Lord Peter Wimsey short story "The Fantastic Horror of the Cat in the Bag" by Dorothy L. Sayers features a motorcycle chase along the Great North Road. The A1 and Great North Road are also celebrated in song. The A1 is mentioned by Jethro Tull on the title track of the album Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die! "Up on the A1 by Scotch Corner". Near the southern end, signs saying "Hatfield and the North" inspired the eponymous 1970s rock band Hatfield and the North. The A1 is mentioned in The Long Blondes' song, "Separated By Motorways", along with the A14. The A1(M) is mentioned in the song "Gabadon" by Sheffield band, Haze, and the 'Great North Road' is mentioned in Mark Knopfler's song, "5:15 AM", from the album Shangri La. [edit] A1(M)Some sections of the A1 have been upgraded to motorway standard. These are known as the A1(M). These include: [edit] M25 to Stotfold
 This section opened in stages:
[edit] Junctions
[edit] Alconbury to Peterborough
This section opened in 1998. [edit] Junctions
[edit] Doncaster bypass
This section opened in 1961 and is one of the oldest sections of motorway in Britain. [edit] Junctions
[edit] Darrington to Dishforth
 This section opened in sections:
[edit] Junctions
[edit] Dishforth to Scotch Corner
Section to be upgraded to dual 3-lane motorway standard, work began in March 2009. It will include four new junctions: [edit] Junctions
Due to junction numbers further north being based on older rejected plans which included more planned junctions there will not be a Junction 54 or 55. [edit] Scotch Corner to Gateshead
 This section opened in stages:
[edit] Junctions
[edit] See also[edit] References
[edit] External links
Categories: Motorways in England | Roads in England | Roads in Scotland | Streets in the City of London | Streets in Barnet | Streets in Islington | Transport in Barnet | Transport in Islington | Transport in Bedfordshire | Transport in East Lothian | Transport in Edinburgh | Transport in Hertfordshire | Transport in Lincolnshire | Transport in Northumberland | Transport in Nottinghamshire | Transport in the Scottish Borders | Transport in Tyne and Wear | Roads in Yorkshire | Boroughbridge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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