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 The A456 passing nearClent Hills | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Length | 40 mi[1] (64 km) | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| East end | Birmingham | |||
| Major intersections |  A38 A457 A4540 A4030 A4123 A458 M5 J3 A459 A491 A450 A449 A451 A442 A4535 A4117 A443 A4112 A49 | |||
| West end | Woofferton | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United Kingdom | |||
| Primary destinations | BirminghamKidderminsterLeominster | |||
| Road network | ||||
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Known as theHagley Road in Birmingham, theA456 is a main road inEngland running betweenCentral Birmingham andWoofferton,Shropshire, south ofLudlow. Some sections of the route, for exampleEdgbaston nearBearwood, are also the route of theElan Aqueduct which carries Birmingham's water supply from theElan Valley.[2]
The A456 now starts on Hagley Road atFive Ways junction 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 ofEdgbaston andQuinton using 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 theM5 at 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 Council and theMetropolitan Borough of Sandwell.
The road resumes its original route on the West side of Halesowen, enteringWorcestershire and passing over theClent Hills. TheA491 is 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.
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 ofBewdley is 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 theFingerpost junction with the A456. Continuing West, the road is entirely rural in nature, passing theWyre Forest eventually meeting theA443 at a "T" junction. The road passes just to the North ofTenbury Wells, theA4112 providing 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 entersHerefordshire for about the same distance, before entering Shropshire again at its junction with theA49. The A456 terminates shortly after on theA49 in Woofferton.
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.
From Birmingham toBlakedown section 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 House west ofBearwood,[3] and the area south of Hagley Road between Lordswood Road and Wolverhampton Road is still referred to as "Beech Lanes"[4][5]
The section from Blakedown toBewdley Bridge represents two of the eight roads from the market house inKidderminster that were maintained by a trust established in 1759. The turnpike road passed throughHalesowen, following what is nowA458 road and 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 motorway junction 3, when the northern section of M5 was opened in the 1970s.
From the Welsh Gate ofBewdley toNewnham Bridge, it was managed by the Bewdley Trust established in 1753. From Monksbridge (theShropshire boundary, toWoofferton and so to Ludlow, the road was repaired by theLudlow FirstTurnpike Trust of about 1751. The intervening section was handled by the Hundred House Turnpike Trust of 1753. The Hundred House atGreat Witley was probably the meeting place forDoddingtree Hundred. This trust was unusual in being responsible for several roads radiating from a place that was not a town.[6]
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 Aqueduct and theBCN Main Line, along with many other smaller streams and brooks.
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 Shack andLed Zeppelin.
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52°22′06″N2°19′41″W / 52.36847°N 2.32794°W /52.36847; -2.32794
