Sign at Junction 1 of the A1(M) at South Mimms in Hertfordshire

The A1, at 409 miles (658 km) long, is the longest numbered British road. Joining London, the capital city of England, to Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, it is also known as the Great North Road.

The original A1 route was designated by the Ministry of Transport in 1921, following the medieval Great North Road from Central London through Barnet, Potters Bar, Hatfield, Welwyn, Stevenage, Baldock, Biggleswade, Sandy, St Neots and Alconbury, then joining the route of a Roman road, Ermine Street, as far as Colsterworth. The route was modified in 1927 when bypasses were built around Barnet and Hatfield. In 1960 Stamford was bypassed, as was St Neots in 1971.

Continuing north, the A1 runs on modern bypasses around Grantham, Newark-on-Trent, Retford, Bawtry, Doncaster, Scotch Corner, Chester-le-Street, past the Angel of the North sculpture in Gateshead, around Newcastle upon Tyne, Morpeth, Alnwick, Berwick-upon-Tweed, into Scotland, past Dunbar and Haddington before finally arriving in Edinburgh.

Some sections of the A1 have been upgraded to motorway standard. These are known as the A1(M). These include a long stretch coming north from London from the M25 to just north of Baldock; the new Peterborough section from the Alconbury junction near Huntingdon; a section bypassing Doncaster and intersecting the M18 (this was the first section of motorway on the A1 and only the second to be built in the United Kingdom); a short section where the new extended M1 joins the road between Leeds and York and a relatively new section through North Yorkshire east of Ripon, and another long stretch south of Newcastle upon Tyne.

The Great North Road includes stretches of Roman Road including Dere Street, and is mentioned in much English literature, for example Charles Dickens' Pickwick Papers.

See also

• British road numbering scheme

External link

• Extremely thorough site with information about the A1 (http://www.biffvernon.freeserve.co.uk/contents.htm)