The A1

The Great North Road was awarded the accolade of “A1” when Britain introduced a road numbering system in 1923.

The naming (or numbering) of roads starts to give an arbitrary route across the country a significance greater than the individual places it connects. That practice goes back a long way but those roads gaining such a reference were unusual.

The first recorded identification of the “great” roads of England dates back to medieval writers such as Henry of Huntingdon: in the mid-12th century he refers to Ermine Street, Icknield Way, Watling Street and Fosse Way. With the emergence of postal services in the early 17th century the primary highways, still recognised in our single digit road numbers, began to crystalise. John Ogilby’s Britannia, published in 1675, described 14 numbered routes radiating from London. The ensuing 150 years of coaching and turnpiking saw roads develop their own stories and character. Some were best known by their primary destination, for example, Dover, Bath and Holyhead. The north road to Edinburgh became the Great North Road.

Perhaps it was to be expected that these historic roads would feature when the system was “digitised”. There seemed to be no question that it was the Great North Road which would become the number one road in Britain. It was the longest and the one connecting the capital cities of England and Scotland.

Attempted French Infiltration

Other European countries had been quicker off the mark as motor vehicles appeared and roads acquired their black tar finish in the early years of the 20th century. Most notably, the French established their spoke and hub system of “N” or national routes – or was it Napoleon’s Routes Impériales under a new guise?

Pioneer of all things motoring, André Michelin, wanted to help the Brits and wrote 4 papers suggesting how roads in Britain could be given similar treatment.

Our trusty bureaucrats thanked him for his advice then it seems they did nothing at all with it, otherwise we might well have ended up with the N1 rather than the A1. Mon Dieu!

In 1895 André and Édouard Michelin entered the first motor car with pneumatic tyres in the Paris-Bordeaux-Paris race. By 1898 the familiar Michelin man had made an appearance and the first Michelin guide was published 2 years later.

The New Ministry of Transport

The Road Board was set up in 1910, instructed to upgrade roads using money from the new road and petrol tax. To define the problem (and solutions) they needed a way to define the roads they were talking about.

The object of numbering roads under the scheme for the classification of roads is obviously for the purpose of easy reference between the Central Department and the Local Authorities and others.
Memorandum on Numbering Roads, 1914

A circular was sent to all County Councils in April 1914 asking them to commence traffic surveys so that classification could begin. War then interrupted proceedings though the importance of a coherent road transport system was underlined. The task was resumed in September 1919 by Sir Henry Maybury, under the newly created Ministry of Transport.

By the time a numbering system was back on the table it was recognised that its users would not just be officials managing and developing the road network; a numbering system would be an important part of road transport “navigation” for all and numbers would feature on the newly appearing road signs and road maps. An earlier proposal which would have seen duplication of road numbers across counties was dropped.

It was a wonderful opportunity for anyone with time on their hands (including no doubt many civil servants and politicians) to propose and counter propose their own favourite numbering systems. In reality there were always challenges to any logic-based solution, and annoyingly the road network kept evolving, so in the end a pragmatic approach had to be taken.

The 1923 Road Numbering System Explained

As Chris Marshall makes clear on the roads.org.uk website, road numbers involve a bewildering world of zones, boundaries, rules, conventions and intricacies. I will aim to provide the abbreviated explanation.

A two-tier classification was adopted; initially it was to be “T” (trunk) and “L” (Link) but this was switched to a simpler “A” and “B” approach. A vast number of smaller roads were left unnumbered other than for administrative purposes.

The concept of a series of radial routes from London appealed to the city-based officials. For first digits, numbers 1 to 6 were allocated clockwise to London radial zones. The borders and Scotland took a bit longer to figure out and it was by no means clear that any road (other than the A1) would be allowed to cross the frontier.

The first batch of numbers was issued in July 1921. On 1st April 1923 the Department of Transport issued a “List of Class I and Class II Roads and Numbers”, and Ordnance Survey published a series of corresponding half-inch “Ministry of Transport Road Maps”.

1923 Ordnance Survey Map: A-Roads in red and B-Roads in green

The single digit A roads were set as follows:

A1 London – Edinburgh
A2 London – Dover
A3 London – Portsmouth
A4 London – Bath
A5 London – Holyhead
A6 London – Carlisle
A7 Edinburgh – Carlisle
A8 Edinburgh – Gourock
A9 Edinburgh – Inverness

These roads were used as boundary markers between the zones, so any road that started between the A6 and A1, for example, had a number that begins with 6. The exception is that the boundary between the 1 and 2 zones was not the A2, but the Thames.

Secondary radials and other roads deemed to be important received two-digit designation. Lesser roads (including all B-roads) came to be assigned 3 or 4 digits.

As originally configured, the A1 started from the A4 at the west end of Cheapside (this secondary starting point being conditioned by the decision to start the scheme from the Bank / Mansion House junction), then north by St Martin’s Le Grand, Aldersgate, Goswell Road and Upper Street to Barnet, Hatfield and on to Edinburgh.

The nine numbering zones for A- and B-roads in Great Britain

There have been many challenges to this beautifully ordered world. Sometimes there have simply been mistakes but more often the problems reflect changes over time.

As early as 1924 there was a diversion of the A1 away from its initial route through Northallerton as it was felt a poor choice of route had been made; the original section of the A1 was redesignated A167.

When the A1 shifted west around Newcastle in the 1980s it inadvertently strayed into Zone 6. It triggered a mass renumbering to put the whole of Newcastle and Gateshead in Zone 1. The overzealous officials even renumbered several Zone 6 roads as they crossed the new by-pass even though this is allowed under the detailed guidance.

The M1 and the Great North Road

During the 1940s Britain was rather conscious that other countries (most notably Nazi Germany) enjoyed the benefit of far more advanced road transport networks. Investment proposals were drawn up for the first British “Motorways” built largely on dedicated new corridors to a consistent set of standards. This new motorway network called for its own numbering system.

There was plenty of dithering and confusion at the Ministry:

With regard to the London – Birmingham, Mr. Hadfield suggests M.1 (since this motorway, when eventually extended into Yorkshire, will duplicate the Great North Road), with M.5 for the spur to Birmingham. But this suggestion leaves out of account the question of by-passes built to motorway standards along e.g. the Great North Road. I understand that the Stevenage, Biggleswade, Stamford and Doncaster Bypasses are all to be built to motorway standards and will be subject to motorway regulations. I have discussed this question with Mr. Huddy, who feels that for the sake of continuity the whole road, including bypasses, should have the same number (A.1) all the way from London to Edinburgh. We must respect this view but it seems to me essential that the bypasses should have M numbers to give the indication, referred to above, that motorway restrictions are in force. The continuity would be preserved by the numeral – thus all the bypasses along the Great North Road would be M.1. This being so, we still have to find a number for the London – Birmingham and I would recommend endorsement of Mr. Hadfield’s earlier suggestion that it should be M.5, since it takes off from the A.5 at Park Street and the A.5 is the chief route from London to the Midlands. I would suggest M.50 for the eventual extension into Yorkshire – this a motorist travelling from London to say north of Doncaster might take the M.5 to Watford Gap, M.50 to the Doncaster Bypass and M.1 along the Doncaster Bypass. This strikes me as an easily memorised sequence and Mr. Hadfield, with whom I have discussed the suggestion, thinks there is a lot to be said for it.
A. W. Lovett, Road Traffic Division, 1959

One might think that us Great North Roaders would be disappointed that the new motorway to Birmingham was finally dubbed the M1. However, as alluded to by Mr Lovett, the M1 starts in North London alongside the Great North Road at Staples Corner. And it didn’t actually make it to Birmingham; it initially reached Rugby via Stony Stratford (Milton Keynes) with the M6 subsequently taking traffic to Birmingham and the northwest. And the M1 was extended via Nottingham to Leeds then to join Dere Street a few miles north of Pontefract. Those who have studied the evolution of the Great North Road will recognise this more westerly route as one which was favoured in the Medieval period, particularly when rivers were high, fords dangerous and bridges subject to bad weather (and poor upkeep).

As the A1 itself has received piecemeal upgrades to motorway standard so the use of the term A1(M) has been applied. In fact the Doncaster bypass opened in 1961 was one of the first roads to receive this numbering treatment.

British Road Numbering, Graham Bird and John Mann

Roads.org Website

National Highways – 100 Years of A-roads: The A1: