A3 road

The A3, known as the Portsmouth Road or London Road in sections, is a major road connecting the City of London and Portsmouth passing close to Kingston upon Thames, Guildford, Haslemere and Petersfield. For much of its 67-mile (108 km) length, it is classified as a trunk road and therefore managed by National Highways. Almost all of the road has been built to dual carriageway standards or wider. Apart from bypass sections in London, the road travels in a southwest direction and, after Liss, south-southwest.

Close to its southerly end, motorway traffic is routed via the A3(M), then either the east–west A27 or the Portsmouth-only M275 which has multiple lanes leading off the westbound A27 — for non-motorway traffic, the A3 continues into Portsmouth alongside the A3(M), mostly as a single carriageway in each direction through Waterlooville and adjoining small towns. The other section of single carriageways is through the urban environs of Battersea, Clapham and Stockwell towards the northern end, which has to accommodate bus lanes and parking meter bays.

History

By the 17th century, the historic Portsmouth Road bore great strategic significance as the road link between the capital city and what became the settled main port of the Royal Navy. In 1603, a petition was passed by The Queen for the expansion of the bench of justices of the town of Guildford along its route, in consideration of the importance of the Portsmouth Road. Many of the other towns and villages that the road passed through gained income and, in the case of towns, a market advantage as a result — principally in the history of Kingston upon Thames, Godalming and Petersfield.

The road was once the haunt of highwaymen such as Jerry Abershawe (executed in 1795), who in the 18th Century terrorised the area around Kingston and led a gang based at the Bald Faced Stag Inn on the Portsmouth Road.