Scotch Corner is a junction of the A1(M) and A66 trunk roads near Richmond in

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

, England. It has been described as "the modern gateway to Cumbria, the North East and Scotland", and is a primary destination signed from as far away as the M6 motorway, away. The junction's name is derived from the fact that it is the point of divergence for traffic coming from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, the East Midlands and

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

wishing to continue either to

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and eastern

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

(along the A1(M)) or to

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and western Scotland (by taking the A66).

Toponym

The name originated from being the junction where the north–south Roman road known as " Dere Street", which crossed the

River Tees The River Tees (), in England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for to reach the North Sea in the North East of England. The modern-day history of the river has been tied with the industries ...

at Piercebridge, met the Roman road which went west through

Bowes Bowes is a village and civil parish in County Durham, England. Located in the Pennine hills, it is situated close to Barnard Castle. It is built around the medieval Bowes Castle. In 2021 the parish had a population of 442.Table PP002 - Se ...

and Brough. It is where travellers to eastern Scotland (now via A1(M) and/or A68) are separated from travellers to western Scotland (now via A66 and M6/ A74(M)/M74).

Geography

The A1(M) leads north towards North East England and

, and south towards London. The A66 leads north-west towards Penrith and the M6 motorway. There are also three other exits from the junction: the A6055 road north and south, with the southbound side leading to the A6108 towards the

Yorkshire Dales The Yorkshire Dales are a series of valleys, or Dale (landform), dales, in the Pennines, an Highland, upland range in England. They are mostly located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, but extend into C ...

and Richmond. The third exit is towards Middleton Tyas and Croft-on-Tees and is a minor road which also provides access to the services. Other nearby locations include Gilling West and Aske Hall. The Scotch Corner area is drained by the Scorton

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...

which eventually flows into the Swale. The area to the west of the junction is drained by Gilling Beck in the ''Skeeby/Holme/Dalton Beck'' catchment, also eventually flowing into the Swale

History

The Romans were responsible for building the first roads to meet at this point and the site of the original junction is just a few hundred yards away from the modern day intersection. In AD 71 the Romans took control of the area when they defeated the Brigantes, a

Celt The Celts ( , see Names of the Celts#Pronunciation, pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European languages, Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apoge ...

ic tribe at the ''Battle of Scotch Corner'' (1st century). There was a major Roman settlement at Scotch Corner, with its own mint. It is a landmark for planning and describing routes. For example, it is around from Leeds, providing a useful distance for

cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

events. It was used by cyclists for navigation. It was in a

fox hunting Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, normally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of hounds" ...

district, providing a means of identifying the location when reporting events. The £8 million Scotch Corner diversion opened in July 1971, which created a grade separated junction on the A1. Later, a £380 million upgrade of the A1 between Leeming Bar and Barton Interchange meant that the road was upgraded to three-lane motorway standard in March 2018. This created the opportunity for further archaeological investigation.

Facilities

''The Three Tuns'' coaching inn stood at Scotch Corner from the 1820s. The inn subsequently became a roadhouse in the early days of motorised travel. It was demolished in 1939 when the road was widened. The Scotch Corner Hotel was established there in 1939, built on the site of a mid-16th century inn and now operated by

Holiday Inn Holiday Inn by IHG is a chain of hotels based in Atlanta, Georgia and a brand of IHG Hotels & Resorts. The chain was founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson (1913–2003), who opened the first location in Memphis, Tennessee. The chain was a division ...

. Almost as soon as it was opened, part of the hotel was requisitioned by the Royal Air Force for convalescing airmen. In 2011 it underwent a £3 million refurbishment. A

Moto Hospitality Moto Hospitality Limited, trading as Moto, is a British service station operator which operates 59 motorway service stations across the United Kingdom. It is currently the UK's largest service area operator. History Operations (2001–2020) ...

service station opened here in 1980.

References

External links