A2070 - the official website

A2070 - The Official Website

NOW WITH TWO PAGES OF PICTURES

The ultimate road movies are available on DVD now!

'A28 - the Movie' is now available on DVD for 5 pounds sterling.

Filmed in the 1990s the DVDs show the entire journey from Hastings to Margate via Tenterden, Ashford and Canterbury - the ultimate souvenir of this chagning corner of England.

Send cheque and address details to A Colton, 4 West View, Hamstreet, Kent TN26 2HE. P&P included.

SABRE - the definitive site on the UK road network

Find fascinating links on this traditional Kentish village at this homepage

INTRIGUING PAPERBACKS BY A LOCAL AUTHOR

Mud, Sweat and Beers (lighthouse challenge travelogue)

England and Wales in a Flash

(Southern England hiking adventure)

Seven Dreams of Reality - a collection of dream-like short stories. Email Hamcopublishing@AOL.com for plot outlines and info on obtaining a copy. Free sample story here

Known to most locals as the 'A twenty seventy', the A2070 spans just over thirteen miles in Southeast Kent, from Brenzett to Kennington (a northern suburb of Ashford).

Originally, a mere 'B' road, running from Ashford town centre to the small Romney Marsh town of New Romney, the road was re-classified in the seventies with the route being switched to end in the tiny village of Brenzett. Then, with the onset of the Channel Tunnel and Ashford's burgeoning growth spurred on by the international station (pictured above), the whole route was rebuilt in the early nineties, and it is now part of the South Coast Trunk Route.

The '2070 is perhaps the only road in the UK to have been a B road, an A road, a primary route and a trunk road whilst maintaining the same number. In transport terms, a real 'rags to riches' story!

1) Hamstreet Bypass

0m Leaving the A259 at Brenzett (approx. half way between Hastings and Folkestone), the road streaks northwards across the completely flat Romney Marsh (famed for its sheep), with only an avenue of poplar trees for company. Brenzett used to be signed as the main destination on the A2070 from Ashford in spite of its small size, but most of the signs now say 'Hastings'. Facilities here include a filling station, a Little Chef, the Fleur de Lis pub and an aeronautical museum.

2m Snave. After the staggered junction with roads from Ivychurch and Brenzett Green (both former incarnations of the '2070'), we pass the hamlet of Snave with our first long straight. St Augustine's church, to the right, has one service annually at harvest festival.

3m Stockbridge. It is hard to believe that at this point traffic used to grind to a halt to pass single-file over a dyke.

4m Hamstreet South (Johnson's Corner). Johnson was a heroic pilot who lost his life in the second world war. His plane was in trouble as he returned from crossing the Channel; his crew had to bail out but he tragically lost his life at this spot.

Here the old road exits right for Hamstreet. This is a large village compared to most in this area, and boasts a full range of amenities including general store/PO, paper shop, garden centre, two DIY stores, bike shop, estate agent, hairdresser, dentist, pub (Duke's Head), restaurant, railway station, garage, dog groomer, school, dancing school and surgery. The village makes a great base for walkers wishing to explore the three long distance footpaths; the Saxon Shore Way, the Greensand Way and the Royal Military Canal Path.

4.5m The canal forms the boundary of the marshes and runs from Seabrook (near Folkestone) to Cliff End (beyond Rye). It owes its existance purely to the threat from Napolean. The double bends every 600 yards would have been manned by lookouts.

The bypass was constructed on giant polystyrene blocks to bridge the canal because the ground here is unusually soft. This was the first time this technique was used in the UK, being more usually used to contruct roads over ice-fields in Alaska. Our road streaks straight ahead to climb the ridge of clay hills, with views of Warehorne church to the left and Hamstreet to the right.

5.5m Hamstreet North (Orlestone). The hamlet of Orlestone was the original centre of population here, and it wasn't until the damp miry marshes were drained that much of it decamped to low-lying Hamstreet, originally known as plain 'Ham'.

There is an exit here to rejoin the old road which continues via Bromley Green and Kingsnorth.

The new road climbs up through the expansive woodlands (well worth a visit), and now joins the Hastings to Ashford railway line to the right, running dead-straight for several miles. The four bridges over the road were designed to blend in with the 150-year-old brick structures across the railway.

As we pass the flat, open agricultural land, it is also worth noting that this line is one of only two diesel lines in the Southeast.

9m Park Farm. The A2070 used to have a clear run from Hamstreet to Ashford, but a roundabout was added in 2006 to accomodate traffic from John Prescott's various housing projects. Park Farm isn't a brilliant start to Ashford's expansion; although the community has a school and a supermarket, the manifold residents still have no watering hole or rail halt.

Nearby Kingsnorth still just maintains a village feel, being separated from the burgeoning metropolis by a small ‘green belt’. There is a church, a pub (Queen's Head) and a reunion with the Greensand Way.

The road continues for another mile in dead straight form towards the next roundabout squeezed between the housing estate and the railway line.

2) Ashford South Orbital Road

9.5m Having reached the main Park Farm roundabout, the A2070 enters a brief 50 limit to spiral up sharply onto this dual carriageway section.

The A2042 is now the main route for Ashford town centre, which includes the tented 'designer outlet' and an international station where one can board a 186-mph Eurostar train bound for Paris or Brussels. The town centre is largely traffic free and the area around the tall parish church of St Mary's still maintains a quaint peacefulness. Ashford has a long history as a railway town, but the works sadly closed in the nineties.

10.5m Truckstop roundabout. This is half way along the Ashford South Orbital. There are business parks to the left consisting largely of car showrooms, and a ‘lorries only’ service area to the right.

11m Sevington. Marooned to the right of the speeding traffic, one can make out the spire of Sevington church at the edge of the countryside. To the left it's a different story - another business park and the Highfield housing estate (similar in appearance to Park Farm).

11.5m Junction 10. Known to many as the ‘roundabout from hell’, this is Ashford’s most pressing pinch-point. It is the more easterly of the two Ashford junctions on the M20 and the point at which the A2070 ceases to be a trunk road. At present this situation is preventing vast developments to the south of the town from going ahead. Perhaps junction 10 is not so bad after all!

3) Willesborough to Kennington

This final section is the re-designated B2164. Its character is much different from the rest of the road, being an unimproved suburban route complete with speed limits (30 and 40). A mini roundabout forms the junction for the William Harvey Hospital. We pass the White Horse public house as we descend through Willesborough Lees. Crossing the River Stour, we can glimpse the North Downs (the UK's second longest range of hills) to the right, adorned with the chalk carving of Wye Crown.

However, the Bachelors soup factory and the Julie Rose Athletics Stadium remind us that we are still skirting the edge of a large town.

13m Little Burton Farm. Having crossed the Ashford-Canterbury railway line, one is plunged into suburbia once again. Cue more red-bricked, high density housing.

13.5m This is the end of the road. At the roundabout we meet the A28, another noteworthy route, for it encompasses 58 miles from just north of Hastings to Margate, via Tenterden, Ashford and Canterbury.

With Lydd airport being considered for expansion, we may eventually see the B2075 upgraded. If this becomes a southern extension of the A2070 via a multiplex with the A259 through Old Romney, the road would gain another 7 miles (Being really optimistic, we may even see the Lydd branch railway line reopen too).

Many drivers enjoy the Hamstreet bypass section purely because of their desire for speed, hence regular speed-traps are now a feature. The South Orbital section forms the current boundary of urban Ashford. Park Farm is the first breach of this and it is clear that this will not be the case for very much longer. All in all, the road illustrates all that is good and bad about Kent in a mere 13.5 miles. It has improved travel; it has destroyed some businesses. It is urban; it is rural. It is good; it is bad. It is there!