The A344 was an

A road A roads may be *motorways or freeways, usually where the local word for motorway begins with A (for example, ''Autobahn'' in German; ''Autostrada'' in Italian). * main roads or highways, in a system where roads are graded A, B and sometimes lower c ...

in the English county of

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

. Until 2013 it ran from its junction with the

A303 The A303 is a trunk road in southern England, running between Basingstoke in Hampshire and Honiton in Devon via Stonehenge. Connecting the M3 and the A30, it is part of one of the main routes from London to Devon and Cornwall. It is a prim ...

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connectin ...

, northwest to its junction with the A360, away. The A344 was once part of a longer route, from

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia * Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Ando ...

(Hampshire) in the east to

Warminster Warminster () is an ancient market town with a nearby garrison, and civil parish in south west Wiltshire, England, on the western edge of Salisbury Plain. The parish had a population of about 17,000 in 2011. The 11th-century Minster Church of S ...

in the west. The section from Andover to

Amesbury Amesbury () is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It is known for the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge which is within the parish. The town is claimed to be the oldest occupied settlement in Great Britain, having been first settle ...

was redesignated as the A303 when the new route to the South West was created as an alternative to the A30. A section between Airman's Corner near Stonehenge and

Shrewton Shrewton is a village and civil parish on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, around west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. It lies on the A360 road between Stonehenge and Tilshead. It is close to the source of the River Till, which flows ...

was (sometime before 1958) shared with the re-routed A360. The western section, from Shrewton to

Heytesbury Heytesbury is a village (formerly considered to be a town) and a civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The village lies on the north bank of the Wylye, about southeast of the town of Warminster. The civil parish includes most of the small neigh ...

near Warminster, has been re-classified as the B390. The remaining section passed close to Stonehenge. In July 2012, work began on a £27m project which involved the closure and grassing over of the A344 between Stonehenge Bottom and the monument, with the pedestrian underpass beneath the road being filled in. This section of road was eventually closed in June 2013. The new Stonehenge visitors' centre at Airman's Corner (or Airman's Cross) opened in December 2013. Vehicle traffic on the remaining short section of the A344 is now mostly shuttle buses between the Stonehenge visitors' centre and the monument. The bus service could not cope with demand during the fourth weekend after opening; long queues developed and many visitors chose to walk to the Stones rather than wait for the buses. Therefore, the A344 is no longer a road open to public vehicular access. As the closure of the section between Airman's Cross and Byway 12 was by means of a

Traffic Regulation Order Traffic comprises pedestrians, vehicles, ridden or herded animals, trains, and other conveyances that use public ways (roads) for travel and transportation. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic ...

prohibiting motor vehicles, this section remains a public highway for non-motor vehicles, horses, bicycles, and pedestrians. A memorial to Major Alexander William Hewetson, of the 66th Battery Royal Field Artillery, stands beside the old A344 at Fargo Wood, west of Stonehenge. Major Hewetson was killed in an accident on 17 July 1913 during a training flight from

Larkhill Aerodrome Larkhill is a garrison town in the civil parish of Durrington, Wiltshire, England. It lies about west of the centre of Durrington village and north of the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge. It is about north of Salisbury. The settlement ...

, shortly after the formation of the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

. The memorial had originally stood at the junction of the A344 and A360 but was placed in storage and re-erected in its current location when the Stonehenge visitor centre opened.

References

External links

Highways Agency A303 Stonehenge site
as archived by the UK's National Archives {{DEFAULTSORT:3-0344 Roads in Wiltshire

See also

References

External links