A31/A338 junction viewed from a Morris 8 - Ringwood 1956 (1)

Image: © Ronald Searle Taken: 31 Mar 1956

The view of what used to be the main A31 Southampton road from Ringwood (the Ringwood bypass) at its junction with the A338 to Fordingbridge and Salisbury. Photographed through the windscreen of my father's Morris 8 saloon reg. no. ERU 765. Some interesting vehicles observed, a 1948 Morris Minor split screen saloon (reg. no. JOV 68) approaches in the opposite carriageway, whilst an unidentified Standard or Vauxhall (reg. no. PUK 948) emerges from the A338. Beyond is a motorcycle and sidecar combination that may have broken down, partially blocking the eastbound single carriageway of the A31 (as it was back then). Today the main A31 has been elevated over this very spot via a modern flyover, whose dual carriageway carries thousands of vehicles per day overhead. This former road junction has long since been revamped too with a roundabout that acts now merely as a feeder for traffic entering and leaving the A31/A338. The next photo is of the same stretch of the A31 travelling in the same direction about 200 yards further along. Image

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