The A31 Southampton Road viewed from a Morris 8 - Ringwood 1956 (2)

Image: © Ronald Searle Taken: 31 Mar 1956

The modern A31 elevated dual carriageway today carries thousands of vehicles a day past the sleepy market town of Ringwood. In 1955 this was it, a single carriageway seen here eastbound on what was the A31 Southampton Road, on the approach to the junction of Parsonage Barn and Broadshard Lanes beyond the bend. A rather dangerous overtaking manoeuvre is in progress here, whose outcome is unknown, but if I were the approaching solitary cyclist in the opposite carriageway, I would be very, very worried. In 1956 it was still possible for small vehicles to progress along a short disused section of the old Southampton road, and to join the A31 as this car is doing in the far distance behind the lone cyclist. By 1964 and probably earlier, this route was closed off to vehicular traffic. Photographed through the windscreen of my father's Morris 8, reg. no. ERU 765. Image

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