A44 road

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A44
A487 in Aberystwyth
Location
Country	Primary destinations	Woodstock Chipping Norton Moreton-in-Marsh Evesham Worcester Bromyard Leominster Kington Old Radnor Rhayader Llangurig
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones
← A45

The A44 is a major road in the United Kingdom that runs from Oxford in southern England to Aberystwyth in west Wales.

History

The original (1923) route of the A44 was

After leaving Worcester, the A44 continues west past the village of Broadwas, following the River Teme until Knightwick where enters Herefordshire as it climbs over Bringsty Common before descending towards Bromyard. The A44 bypasses Bromyard town centre and heads west over the downs to Bredenbury. It then crosses the River Lugg before meeting the A49 Leominster bypass, where it turns left and heads through the town centre.

Leominster–Rhayader

After leaving Leominster, the A44 crosses the

Leaving Herefordshire and entering Powys, the road continues through Walton and passes the village of New Radnor, before turning south to Llanfihangel Nant Melan. The road then turns northwest to do some serious hill-climbing before winding its way downhill to a plateau. A few miles later it reaches Penybont and Crossgates, where it meets the A483 road. Eight miles further the A44 reaches Rhayader.

A spoof sign on this section of the road, announcing "Llandegley International Airport 2½ m", has attracted international press coverage and been mentioned in Parliament.^[1]

Rhayader–Aberystwyth

On reaching the centre of Rhayader, traffic heads to the left of the clock tower before immediately turning right, where the road passes through the town and joins the A470 for 9 miles (14 km) to Llangurig, following the course of the River Wye. Leaving Llangurig, the road starts clinging to hillsides as it winds its way through the Cambrian Mountains.

The road enters

• Evesham: the route used to go through the centre of the town, but now runs to the north.
• Evesham–Worcester: the route used to run on a road to the south. The old route is now known as the B4084.
• Leominster–Kington: for 4.8 miles (7.7 km) west of Barons' Cross the road formerly followed a more northerly route, crossing the River Arrow at Eardisland.
• Kington, Herefordshire, the road bypasses the centre of the town using the former Leominster and Kington Railway tracked north of the town.
• Wyre Piddle. In 2003 the A44 was rerouted down the A4538 between Evesham and Worcester and therefore no longer goes down Pershore High Street.

See also

• Trunk roads in Wales

References

External links

• Media related to A44 road (Great Britain) at Wikimedia Commons
• SABRE page on the A44 Archived 22 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine

52°11′35″N 2°18′12″W / 52.19302°N 2.30335°W / 52.19302; -2.30335