The A340 is a major road in the south of
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, portions of which are known as the Aldermaston Road, Tadley Hill, Basingstoke Road, and Tidmarsh Road.
Route
Starting in the south of
Basingstoke
Basingstoke ( ) is a town in Hampshire, situated in south-central England across a valley at the source of the River Loddon on the western edge of the North Downs. It is the largest settlement in Hampshire without city status in the United King ...
,
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
, it runs west, forming the western side of the Basingstoke ringroad, before swinging north to
Tadley
Tadley is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Basingstoke and Deane district of Hampshire, England, north of Basingstoke and south west of Reading, Berkshire, Reading.
During the 1950s and 1960s, the Atomic Weapons Estab ...
and then enters
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...
. It passes the gates of the
Atomic Weapons Establishment
}
The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) is a United Kingdom Ministry of Defence research facility responsible for the design, manufacture and support of warheads for the UK's nuclear weapons. It is the successor to the Atomic Weapons Researc ...
at
Aldermaston
Aldermaston ( ) is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. In the 2011 census, the parish had a population of 1,015. The village is in the Kennet Valley and bounds Hampshire to the south. It is approximately from Newbury, Basin ...
, before passing through the village of Aldermaston itself and then joining the
A4 at
Aldermaston Wharf. After approximately north-east, the A340 runs further north to
Pangbourne
Pangbourne is a village and civil parish on the River Thames in the West Berkshire unitary area of the county of Berkshire, England. Pangbourne has shops, churches, schools and a village hall. Outside its nucleated village, grouped developed are ...
, to the west of
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...
. This section of the road is thought to follow the Roman road from
Calleva Atrebatum
Calleva Atrebatum ("Calleva of the Atrebates") was an Iron Age oppidum, the capital of the Atrebates tribe. It then became a walled town in the Roman province of Britannia, at a major crossroads of the roads of southern Britain.
The modern vi ...
(about to the south).
See also
*
Great Britain road numbering scheme
In Great Britain, there is a numbering scheme used to Categorization, classify and identify all roads. Each road is given a single letter (representing a category) and a subsequent number (between one and four digits). Though this scheme was in ...
References
Roads in England
Roads in Berkshire
Transport in Hampshire
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