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A491 road (Great Britain)

A491 shield

A491
Route information
Length: 12 mi (19 km)
Major junctions
South end: Lydiate Ash
52°22′44″N 2°02′50″W / 52.3788°N 2.0473°W / 52.3788; -2.0473 (A491 road (southern end))
  [ M 5  ]M5 motorway J4
A38 A38 road
A456A456 road
A4036A4036 road
A458A458 road
A451A451 road
A461A461 road
A449A449 road
North end: Wall Heath
52°30′30″N 2°10′20″W / 52.5083°N 2.1721°W / 52.5083; -2.1721 (A491 road (northern end))
Location
Primary
destinations
:
Stourbridge
Road network

A491 shield

The A491 is an A road in Zone 4 of the Great Britain numbering scheme.

The road north of Oldswinford forms part of an ancient road, probably of Anglo-Saxon origin, joining the burhs of Worcester and Stafford. The crossing of the River Stour was probably the swine-ford that gave rise to the placenames Kingswinford and Oldswinford, and later to the name Stourbridge.

The road from Wordsley Green to the Market House in Stourbidge and so to Bromsgrove was turnpiked in 1753. The same act also dealt with several other roads from that Market House, as well as the road from Birmingham through Halesowen and Hagley to Blakedown Pool, but that was managed by separate trustees from 1773. Its continuation north of Wordsley Green, through Wolverhampton, and Stafford to Stone, much of it now part of A449 road was turnpiked by the Wolverhampton Turnpike Act of 1760.

In the original 1922 road numberings, A491 was assigned to the Shrewsbury, Welshpool, Mallwyd and Cemmaes Road route, now part of the A458 and A470. The route between Wall Heath and Bromsgrove was assigned the A449 number.


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Wikipedia

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