29-599: The M3 Chertsey Bridge is a motorway bridge in England built in the 1970s. The bridge carries traffic along the M3 motorway between its first and second junctions across the River Thames at its north–south reach above Chertsey Lock , Surrey. The bridge is 300 metres (980 ft) upstream of the lock and 450 metres (1,480 ft) upstream of Chertsey Bridge , which carries the B375 across
58-561: A Site of Special Scientific Interest . It is managed by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust . Much of the site is chalk grassland , supporting the uncommon chalkhill blue butterfly. Where grazing has kept the grass short, the grassland is dominated by sheep's fescue grass, accompanied by lime-loving (calcicolous) plants such as common rock-rose , salad burnet , thyme , horseshoe vetch , kidney vetch , fairy flax , clustered bellflower , and orchids such as autumn lady's tresses and frog orchid . The north-facing side of
87-469: A saddle quern , objects of worked bronze, iron, bone, and stone, as well as whetstones , spindle whorls , and remains of bones of sheep/goat, shorthorn oxen, horses, pigs, red deer, and dogs. From the Roman period there is pottery, a bronze coin of the emperor Carausius , and a bronze fibula . At the top of the hill, a copse of beech trees contains the site of the 12th-century chapel of St. Catherine . In
116-538: A continuation of a single-lane avenue, Bassett Avenue and The Avenue in the City of Southampton as the M27 provides alternative routes from other parts of the city, particularly its waterfront and downtown peak-hour accessway, the M271 motorway and Mountbatten Way providing dual to three lane highways starting at the northwest of the city. A service station was envisaged at Basingstoke upon
145-579: A counterscarp bank. At the north-east side is an original entrance, with the rampart turned inwards. There is no evidence of an initial wooden rampart, unlike some other hillforts in Wessex . In the Middle Iron Age, c. 400–300 BC, the fortifications were made higher and the entrance was reshaped. The site was occupied until the Middle Ages , as demonstrated by archaeological finds such as Iron Age pottery,
174-687: A northeastern point of the Winchester Bypass were widened to dual carriageways; this only partially alleviated growing congestion, especially in Winchester , which led to the southern phase gaining approval. The eastern section, from Sunbury-on-Thames in Surrey to Popham near Basingstoke opened in sections: first the Hampshire section in 1971, and then the Surrey section in 1974. The cost for this first phase
203-461: Is a chalk downland hill and 43-hectare (110-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest on the outskirts of Winchester in Hampshire , England. It is owned by Winchester College but open to the public. It is managed by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust , and topped by an Iron Age hillfort, a scheduled monument . In the Black Death , plague pits were dug in the dry valley on
232-686: The London Borough of Hounslow , and two from Chiswick . The motorway 2 miles (3.2 km) after its start turns more west-southwest , crosses the River Thames on the M3 Chertsey Bridge to the north of Chertsey and then has its second junction, at the M25 motorway , before continuing through the gorse, bogs and heather of the Surrey Heath . Its third junction is for Camberley , Bagshot, Bracknell , Ascot and Worplesdon . From Junction 4 it bisects
261-515: The River Itchen . The soil on the hill is a thin dark rendzina , directly on top of the chalk; it is thinnest high on the slopes, thickening into the valleys . This provides a varied set of local environments supporting a range of communities of flowering plants, including small populations of numerous downland species of orchids. Species uncommon for southern England include bastard toadflax and juniper . The hill has accordingly been designated
290-455: The 14th century, Black Death , bubonic plague killed many people in the area. Plague pits were dug in the dry valley beside the hill when all Winchester's graveyards became full. There is a mizmaze near the hilltop copse , probably cut between 1647 and 1710 in the Early modern period. It was remade between 1830 and 1840. Winchester College pupils and teachers assemble twice a year, early in
319-863: The South West Main Line a second time alongside the River Itchen and through the Eastleigh urban -suburban area before crossing the Eastleigh to Romsey railway line and ending at the Chilworth Roundabout on the edge of Southampton. Data from driver location signs are used to provide distance and carriageway identification information. [REDACTED] Geographic data related to M3 motorway at OpenStreetMap Download coordinates as: St. Catherine%27s Hill, Hampshire 51°02′47″N 01°18′38″W / 51.04639°N 1.31056°W / 51.04639; -1.31056 St. Catherine's Hill
SECTION 10
#1733085380679348-455: The chalk hills on its east by the M3 motorway . That road, built in the 1990s, aroused the Twyford Down protests . St. Catherine's Hill is geologically within the upfolding of the chalk called the Winchester anticline . The anticline has eroded to expose older rocks to the north of the hill, with a surviving inward-facing circular escarpment encompassing St. Catherine's and other hills to
377-459: The chalk, which results in a thin dark soil, a rendzina , which favours lime-loving plants from orchids to bellflowers. The top of St. Catherine's Hill is ringed by the ramparts of an Iron Age hillfort, a Scheduled Monument . The fortifications consist of a single rampart (univallate dump or glacis ) with an outer ditch, begun in the Early Iron Age; much of the way around there is also
406-575: The college. The hill remains in the college's ownership, but is open to the public. When the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway was built in the 1890s, it separated the hill from the water meadows in the Itchen valley. The 1930s construction of the Winchester By-pass increased the severance . The hill has been rejoined to the city and college by the removal of the road, but it has been severed from
435-503: The dry valley beside the hill is covered with taller grasses such as meadow fescue and upright brome, accompanied by taller forbs such as basil , betony , wild carrot , yellow rattle , and perforate St John's wort . A feature of the plant community is the presence of forbs of relatively wet grassland, such as saw-wort , hemp agrimony , and devilsbit scabious . There is some invasive scrub with bushes such as hawthorn , blackthorn , privet , dogwood , and wild rose , especially on
464-404: The morning, on top of the hill in one of its customs , "Morning Hills"; this is the only regular whole-school assembly practised by the college. The game of Winchester College football was formerly played on top of the hill; boys who were not playing stood beside the pitch to keep the ball from rolling down the hill. In 1922, The Old Wykehamist Lodge of Freemasons bought the hill and gave it to
493-456: The motorway continues as a dual two lane road through open countryside and Micheldever Wood until it reaches the north of Winchester . Taking over the "Winchester Bypass" the M3 resumes to three lanes each way at Junction 9, continues directly south and then takes a small curve around the east of the city running through a deep cutting in Twyford Down and then proceeding south west again, crossing
522-570: The motorway's completion but not built – superseded by one just north of Fleet and another north of Winchester. Plans for a Basingstoke Services were again published in November 2017 An additional junction, numbered 4A, was opened in April 1992 for Fleet. The M3 starts at Sunbury-on-Thames in Surrey on the edge of South West London as the continuation of the A316 which has three lanes each way from Hanworth in
551-595: The near-parallel A3 by the construction of the Hindhead Tunnel . Since completion, the motorway has been an artery to the west and midsections of the South Coast and Isle of Wight including for tourism. The major settlements nearest to the motorway are served by a railway also used for commuting but are relatively dispersed . Traffic on the M3 sees delays and congestion on its busiest sections near commuting hotspots and during holiday periods. From Chertsey to Fleet
580-519: The northern Blackwater Valley conurbation then has its latest junction for Fleet and nearby early 21st century expanded/new villages , it crosses the South West Main Line , before skirting Old Basing and Basingstoke to its north . Turning south west again, it passes Popham and, just before reaching Junction 8, where one lane becomes the A303 which leads to Exeter and South West England . From here
609-681: The river. It is one of three bridges carrying motorways across the Thames, the others being the M25 Runnymede Bridge and the M4 Thames Bridge, Maidenhead . M3 motorway (Great Britain) The M3 is a motorway in England, from Sunbury-on-Thames , Surrey, to Eastleigh , Hampshire; a distance of approximately 59 miles (95 km). The route includes the Aldershot Urban Area , Basingstoke , Winchester , and Southampton . It
SECTION 20
#1733085380679638-469: The road was in 2017 converted to a Smart Motorway , turning the hard shoulder into a permanent fourth lane with emergency refuge lay-bys. The motorway was originally approved as the "London to Basingstoke Motorway" with delays over funding for an extension to Southampton the road was built to relieve two single carriageway trunk roads that were congested. In 1967, sections of the A33 from Popham, Hampshire, to
667-450: The routes of the A30 and M4 approaches. A first public inquiry for the "M3 London to Basingstoke Motorway: Popham to Compton extension" centred on the section passing Winchester, and was held in 1971, after which the ministry was instructed to reconsider and reconsult on the proposals. A second public inquiry was held in 1976–77. The earlier decision to route the motorway through or alongside
696-469: The south side of the hill. In the Early modern period , a mizmaze was cut on the hilltop. Winchester College football used to be played on the hill; in an old custom , members of the college assemble on the hill every year, early in the morning. Geologically, the hill is part of a local anticline in the chalk, which is of Turonian age in the Upper Cretaceous . The local ecology is dominated by
725-470: The south, Oliver's Battery to the west, Magdalen Hill to the north, and Telegraph Hill and Chilcomb Down to the east. St. Catherine's Hill belongs to the roughly 90 million years old Upper Cretaceous 'New Pit Chalk Formation' within the Turonian stage. The hill is bounded to the south by Plague Pits Valley, a dry valley in the chalk of Twyford Down. To the west, the line of chalk hills has been transected by
754-468: The temporary junction to the A33 parallel route was removed. The section of the M3 from near Junction 12 ( Eastleigh and Chandler's Ford ) to the last, Junction 14 for the M27 replaced part of the A33, which was upgraded to motorway standard and opened in 1991. In 2008, the busiest section of the motorway, at Chandler's Ford, carried a daily average of around 130,000 vehicles. The southern section starts as
783-479: The water meadows between St Catherine's Hill and the compact cathedral city was reopened, and during the year-long inquiry the headmaster of Winchester College was forcibly ejected along with others for causing a disturbance. The scope of the M3 extension was reduced to defer the difficult decision about the section around Winchester and it was built in two sections (from 'Popham to Bridget's Farm' and from 'Bridget's Farm to Bar End') in 1985. When this opened,
812-493: Was constructed as a dual three-lane motorway except for its two-lane section between junction 8 ( A303 ) and junction 9. The motorway was opened in phases, ranging from Lightwater / Bagshot to Popham in 1971 to Winchester to Otterbourne Hill in 1995. The latter stages attracted opposition from environmental campaigns across Britain due to its large cutting through wooded Twyford Down ; numerous road protests were held which delayed its opening. Similar protests were avoided on
841-730: Was £46m. The completed road acts were as a continuation of the A316 Country Way , an express three-lane road from Apex Corner, Hanworth , in Greater London to Sunbury-on-Thames. The section is one of five routes into the southern half of London which reach Inner London with at least a dual-carriageway - or dual-direction - road, the others being the A3 (M) , the A30/A4, the M20 and A2 . However approximately one mile before reaching Inner London it combines with
#678321