37-568: The A308 is a road in England in two parts. The first part runs from Central London to Putney Bridge . The second part runs from just beyond Putney Heath to Bisham , Berkshire. It traces four, roughly straight lines, to stay no more than 3 miles (4.8 km) from the Thames . It is a dual carriageway where it is furthest from that river, in Spelthorne , Surrey and forms one of the motorway spurs to
74-606: A 2001 population of 1,525,000. The sub-region was replaced in 2008 with a new structure which amalgamated inner and outer boroughs together. This was altered in 2011 when a new Central London sub-region was created, now including the City of London and excluding Wandsworth. The 1901 Census defined Central London as the City of London and the metropolitan boroughs (subdivisions that existed from 1900 to 1965) of Bermondsey , Bethnal Green , Finsbury , Holborn , Shoreditch , Southwark , Stepney , St Marylebone and Westminster . During
111-407: A bridge of that period, leading to the alternative proposal of a site closer to Egham, possibly as far upstream as Church Island . The first surviving mention of a bridge from the medieval period is a document from 1222, that authorises repairs using wood cut from Windsor Forest. In around 1250, a causeway was constructed at Egham Hythe to improve the southern approach to the crossing Also during
148-536: A high-density built environment, high land values, an elevated daytime population and a concentration of regionally, nationally and internationally significant organisations and facilities. Road distances to London are traditionally measured from a central point at Charing Cross (in the City of Westminster ), which is marked by the statue of King Charles I at the junction of the Strand , Whitehall and Cockspur Street , just south of Trafalgar Square . The central area
185-599: Is 35 miles 5.75 furlongs (57 km) upstream of London Bridge and has a clearance of 5.94 m (19.5 ft) above the water level for navigation. The Roman road from Londinium (London) to Calleva Atrebatum ( Silchester ), commonly called the Devil's Highway , crossed the Thames in the Staines area. Both the Thames and Colne are thought to have had multiple channels during this period, which may have necessitated
222-514: Is a road bridge running in a south-west to north-east direction across the River Thames in Surrey . It is on the modern A308 road and links the boroughs of Spelthorne and Runnymede at Staines-upon-Thames and Egham Hythe . The bridge is Grade II listed . The bridge crosses the Thames on the reach between Penton Hook Lock and Bell Weir Lock , and is close to and upstream of the main mouth of
259-556: Is called Hampton Court Road, briefly Thames Street and then Upper Sunbury Road. It occupies a space carved out of the Royal Estate for it between Bushy Park and Hampton Court Park , and passes Hampton Court Palace including the roundabout opposite the Palace Gates, before continuing west through broad Hampton , passing its prominent parish church and waterworks to exit Greater London . The largely straight road from Hampton Court
296-748: Is distinguished, according to the Royal Commission , by the inclusion within its boundaries of Parliament and the Royal Palaces, the headquarters of Government, the Law Courts , the head offices of a very large number of commercial and industrial firms, as well as institutions of great influence in the intellectual life of the nation such as the British Museum , the National Gallery , the Tate Gallery ,
333-466: Is named Kingston Vale then Kingston Hill until it falls past Kingston Hospital to becomes London Road. Immediately after snaking through central Kingston upon Thames as part of the one-way system, the road passes through a tunnel underneath the John Lewis Kingston department store, before crossing the River Thames at Kingston Bridge where it has another roundabout. The A308 in this borough
370-731: The Herbert Commission and the subsequent passage of the London Government Bill , three unsuccessful attempts were made to define an area that would form a central London borough . The first two were detailed in the 1959 Memorandum of Evidence of the Greater London Group of the London School of Economics . "Scheme A" envisaged a central London borough, one of 25, consisting of the City of London, Westminster, Holborn, Finsbury and
407-741: The M3 /the A316 at the Sunbury Cross area also within Sunbury on Thames. On this line, it passes the Sunbury Common part of that town and the south side of the slightly larger town of Ashford , as Staines Road West and a dual carriageway , passing the Queen Mary Reservoir to form the by-pass to the large town of Staines-upon-Thames , after which it goes back to single carriageway to turn briefly south-west to take
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#1732852764634444-561: The M4 (the original location of Junction 8), where the road is called Windsor Road and Braywick Road, and wending through Maidenhead , passing its Victorian clock tower , the A308 continues under the names of Gringer Hill, Furze Platt Road and Marlow Road, before terminating at the A404 road in the sports-focussed civil parish of Bisham which has its riverside and Abbey ruins 200m north-west. Facing this on
481-741: The River Colne , a tributary. The bridge carries the Thames Path across the river. Its forebear built in Roman Britain , the bridge has been bypassed by three arterial routes, firstly in 1961 by the Runnymede Bridge near Wraysbury and in the 1970s by the building of the UK motorway network (specifically near Maidenhead and Chertsey ). Owing to the commercial centres of the town in Spelthorne and of Egham ,
518-571: The University of London , the headquarters of the national ballet and opera, together with the headquarters of many national associations, the great professions, the trade unions, the trade associations, social service societies, as well as shopping centres and centres of entertainment which attract people from the whole of Greater London and farther afield. In many other respects the central area differs from areas farther out in London. The rateable value of
555-485: The 13th century, there were renewals of the grant of pontage and, in 1376, tolls were levied on boat traffic to provide additional funds for maintenance. Local people left bequests for not only the repair of the bridge, but also for the upkeep of the roads leading to it on each side of the river. The bridge was destroyed in the Civil War and was not rebuilt until the 1680s. In 1734, an act of Parliament noted that
592-413: The 1961 census. It consisted of the City of London, all of Westminster, Holborn and Finsbury; and the inner parts of Shoreditch, Stepney, Bermondsey, Southwark, Lambeth, Chelsea, Kensington, Paddington, St Marylebone and St Pancras. The population was estimated to be 270,000. 51°30′N 0°08′W / 51.50°N 0.13°W / 51.50; -0.13 Staines Bridge Staines Bridge
629-465: The A308 forms the main road of the town of Old Windsor , where it is called Straight Road. It then goes on past the north end of Windsor Great Park , where it is called Albert Road, and through the west side of central Windsor . In Windsor, the A308 is called Osborne Road, Goslar Way and Maidenhead Road which finally re-adopts the normal third part-orientation of WNW. Finally, after sweeping round to its fourth major direction, NNW through Bray under
666-500: The City of London, most of Westminster and the inner parts of Camden, Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Southwark, Lambeth, Kensington & Chelsea and Wandsworth. It is described as "a unique cluster of vitally important activities including central government offices, headquarters and embassies, the largest concentration of London's financial and business services sector and the offices of trade, professional bodies, institutions, associations, communications, publishing, advertising and
703-470: The City of London, the whole of Finsbury and Holborn, most of Westminster and Southwark, parts of St Pancras, St Marylebone, Paddington and a small part of Kensington. The area had an estimated population of 400,000 and occupied 8,000 acres (32 km ). During the passage of the London Government Bill an amendment was put forward to create a central borough corresponding to the definition used at
740-579: The borough, the road becomes New Kings Road, before it ends at the A219 road ( Fulham Palace Road), 100m north of Putney Bridge . The hiatus in the road which is Putney and Putney Heath is a subsumation into the A219 road and then into the A3 . The bulk of the road starts, after. It runs from Kingston Vale's Robin Hood Gate roundabout. The entrance to Richmond Park here was closed to motor vehicles in 2003. The road
777-431: The bridge has had peak hour queues since at least the 1930s. Staines Bridge is a road and pedestrian bridge across the River Thames at Staines-upon-Thames in northeast Surrey . It is built of white granite from Aberdeen . There are three arches across the river, four arches on the north bank and two on the south bank. The pavements, which overhang the river beneath the structure, were added in 1956. Staines Bridge
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#1732852764634814-504: The bridge were abolished in 1871. A Bailey bridge was constructed on the upstream side of the 1832 bridge in 1939, to provide an alternative crossing in the event of the Rennie's bridge being bombed. Neither bridge was damaged during the war, but the Bailey bridge remained in use for pedestrians until 1956, when Staines Bridge was widened with the addition of overhanging pavements either side of
851-512: The building of more than one bridge. It is thought that Staines was chosen as the location of the crossing, because the gravel islands in the area constrained the main river channel so that it could be bridged. The exact position of the Roman crossing is uncertain. It could have been on the site of the later medieval bridge at the end of the High Street or further upstream, closer to Egham . There
888-545: The central area is exceptionally high. Its day population is very much larger than its night population. Its traffic problems reach an intensity not encountered anywhere else in the Metropolis or in any provincial city, and the enormous office developments which have taken place recently constitute a totally new phenomenon. Starting in 2004, the London Plan defined a 'Central Activities Zone' policy area, which as of 2008 comprised
925-547: The crossing be moved upstream of the confluence of the Colne and Thames, where deeper foundations could be constructed. The repositioning required new approach roads to be constructed and the necessary land was subject to compulsory purchase. The foundation stones were laid on each side of the river in September 1829 and William IV opened the bridge in April 1832. Tolls for crossing
962-632: The high street roads network, rather than a straight continuation, which becomes the A30 , then ends this street as Clarence Street, crosses the Thames (for a second time) at Staines Bridge , and resumes its main third-part orientation. It crosses the M25 motorway , that has a large cross-river junction at Junction 13, north of Egham . The road turns north-west, as Windsor Road, in the middle of Runnymede 's meadows, with its National Trust buildings and memorials, before leaving Surrey and entering Berkshire. In Berkshire,
999-503: The inner parts of St Marylebone, St Pancras, Chelsea, Southwark and Lambeth. The boundary deviated from existing lines to include all central London railway stations , the Tower of London and the museums, such that it included small parts of Kensington, Shoreditch, Stepney and Bermondsey. It had an estimated population of 350,000 and occupied 7,000 acres (28 km ). "Scheme B" delineated central London, as one of 7 boroughs, including most of
1036-599: The large town of Maidenhead . Other key settlements served are Fulham , Kingston (London) , Staines upon Thames , Windsor and a minor approach to Marlow The South Kensington to Fulham section starts at the A4 road opposite Brompton Oratory and follows Fulham Road south-west past Chelsea and Westminster Hospital , where it jumps south a block to takeover the Kings Road . Through broad Fulham which traditionally, as bolstered by its associated London postcode, covers half of
1073-480: The media". For strategic planning, since 2011 there has been a Central London sub-region comprising the boroughs of Camden , Islington , Kensington and Chelsea , Lambeth , Southwark , Westminster and the City of London . From 2004 to 2008, the London Plan included a sub-region called Central London comprising Camden, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Southwark, Wandsworth and Westminster. It had
1110-403: The problems of the previous two bridges, it was costly to maintain (£11,000 in 1827) and restricted the size of boats passing beneath it. The Staines Bridge Act 1828 ( 9 Geo. 4 . c. c) authorised the borrowing of up to £60,000 for the construction of a fourth bridge. The granite structure was designed by George Rennie and was based on Waterloo Bridge . Rennie insisted that the site of
1147-461: The river is the larger, equally well-preserved and green town of Marlow . Central London Central London is the innermost part of London , in England , spanning the City of London and several boroughs . Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteristics are understood to include
A308 road - Misplaced Pages Continue
1184-411: The roadway. A 10 t (11 tons) weight limit for vehicles was imposed in 1978, reduced to 7.5 t (8.3 tons) by 1990. During repairs in 1993, wartime demolition charges were discovered, still embedded in the structure. In his Arthurian novel, Enemy of God , Bernard Cornwell sites an 11-arch stone bridge at Staines. He attributes it seven arches over the river with two on land at each end. At
1221-450: The stonework. The artist, J. M. W. Turner , produced a sketch of Sandby's bridge when it was under construction, which was subsequently turned into an engraving by John George Murray. Part of the bridge is still visible in the garden of the former tollhouse , 14, The Hythe, on the Egham side of the river. A cast-iron replacement was designed by James Wilson and opened in 1803. It joined
1258-507: The structure was "in a ruinous and dangerous condition" and that the money raised from tolls and local taxes was insufficient to fund adequate maintenance. A second act, the Staines Bridge Act 1791 ( 31 Geo. 3 . c. 84) authorised the construction of a new bridge, alongside the existing structure, which was retained. The new bridge, designed by Thomas Sandby , opened in 1796, but was closed two years later after cracks started to form in
1295-597: The surviving parts of Sandby's bridge on each side with a segment cut from an exhibition bridge that had been erected in Hyde Park . Within two months, the metal had cracked and the still-standing 1680 bridge was used again instead. Another bridge was authorised by a further act of Parliament, the Staines Bridge Act 1804 ( 44 Geo. 3 . c. lxxviii). It was designed by John Rennie and was constructed of timber, strengthened with cast iron plates. Although it did not suffer from
1332-477: Was a settlement in the area surrounding the High Street and, although the date of its foundation is uncertain, the earliest archaeological evidence is from 54–96 AD, corresponding to the reign of Nero and the period of the Flavian Dynasty . However, more recent excavations have revealed that the width of the Thames at this point was around 230 m (250 yd) in Roman times, which may have been too wide for
1369-455: Was surfaced and tolled in the 1780s by the Hampton and Staines Turnpike Trust. In the west its buildings were set back with gardens and therefore it was widened in Spelthorne in the 1920s. As Staines Road East, the A308 winds past Kempton Park Racecourse , Sunbury-on-Thames and adopts instead of south-west followed after Kingston by west, the direction WNW , allowing it to meet Junction 1 of
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