The GHOST Roads of England
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- In this video, I go and take a look at a few stretches of road in Bedfordshire which are no longer in use, and have since been left abandoned. Some people refer to these forgotten routes as 'ghost roads'. A few old artifacts are found by myself along the way.
I also have a quick look at the piece of land near Bedford that has been recently purchased by Universal Studios, with the ambition of constructing their first UK theme park there.
Cheers for watching!
Side by Side Maps: maps.nls.uk/ge...
www.buymeacoff...
Ghost Roads: Part 2
ruclips.net/video/KGSn6RwbFXw/видео.html
I live on a ghost road. A former trunk road up to 1998 which now stops at my house, I watch the road beyond returning to nature, with it's replacement road a few hundred yards away. It's amazing how quickly they return to nature. The drains block, the water stays on, moss grows, then grass. Within a few years it's wild.
The fact that you didn't mention the scourge of many roads like yours, the appearance overnight of several broken fridges and bogs, is refreshingly encouraging.
@@JP_TaVeryMuchI love an abandoned porcelain throne. Classy.
@@JP_TaVeryMuch I live in the far north of Scotland to be fair
sounds lovely to witness it being reclaimed like that.
@@EddieCeefax45AFCsnp are sad
The white on the brickwork is called efflorescence which is caused by salts in the mortar used. Often it comes out on new brickwork depending on sand used but it can come off with a soft brush.
I have loads of plaster popping off due to Salt Peter. I`m saving it in a jar.
This channel is a breath of fresh air
I found this really fascinating. I’m retired now, and I know of many roads that were bypassed or straightened, causing lots of ‘ghost roads’ . Nature quickly reclaims back the roads and they become undetectable.
Glad it's not just me who asks myself similar questions, along the lines of... "who was the last person to drive on this old road', "why was that put there" etc. Living in Devon, there's so much history to accidentally uncover when going on a casual walk across the countryside. Excellent video mate
Thanks mate! I'm glad I'm not the only one who is curious about that sort of thing.
Friendly, informative and interesting. Reassuring that there are still others that get nostalgic about the little things. Document it now before it's all gone, Cornwall is changing day by day!!
Wow!! This has brought back some very happy childhood memories. I was born and raised in Kempston, and roamed around the district by foot and bike when I was growing up. It has changed beyond all recognition.
When I was a lad the Brickmakers Arms actually stood beside the main road. I used to cycle along the old road to Kempston Hardwick station to watch the trains go by. Before 1958 they were almost all steam, with not only passenger trains pulled by a rattly old tank engine, but trains of coal wagons, presumably heading to one of the brickworks, and brick trains, plus the odd mixed freight. The old pub had a small car parking area, rarely full, however, I can remember seeing quite a lot of bikes outside, especially after the shift changes at the brickworks.
It became one of the first pubs that I used to visit when I turned 18. By then, it was in a lay-by as the road had been straightened and widened. It was not big inside, but actually quite cosy. It never seemed to be very busy. I also confess to doing a certain amount of 'courting' after dark in that lay-by. I certainly wasn't the only one. On some nights there was barely anywhere to park!
Thanks for this comment, it is great to read some memories of the area - especially the pub, which I never got to see or visit when it was open. In this video I wanted to include a photo of the pub before it closed, but I could find absolutely none! All of the photos I found of the pub were taken either after it had closed or when the building was standing derelict.
@@BrickDustI doubt whether there are any photos that have been published online for the general public to see. Nowadays practically everyone takes a camera everywhere, but back in the days when the pub was open the smartphone had yet to be invented. Ironically, the pub closed not long before the smartphone was invented. According to the Bedfordshire Archives web site it closed in or around 1993. That site has a list of previous licensees, so probably one of their families may have a private collection of photographs that you could access. Also, scouring E bay may bring some luck. Many postcards of public houses were published in the early part of the 20th century, and they often come up for sale on e bay. I've been genuinely surprised by some of the pictures that appeared on there over the years. Take care, and keep shooting those videos. Loved your one of Houghton House, (another childhood haunt of mine - literally - as there was always a rumour it haunted!!!
That is a good point. I reckon there may be a few forgotten photographs of the pub on developed or undeveloped film sitting in people's lofts. Speaking of eBay, I found a photo of the pub sign on there from c.1960. That is the closest I've found to an old image of the pub. Thank you, I plan on making many more videos about the local area and beyond. I managed to film half of my next video earlier today.
Thanks to everyone who has watched this video and subscribed to the channel over the last 2 weeks. Over 1,000 subscribers already! I wasn't expecting that! Appreciate all the comments too, there have been some fantastic ones!
I've started filming the next video, so hopefully the wait won't be too long.
Cheers!
Great video, really interesting. Being a retired Ordnance Survey surveyor, I have come across quite a few ghost roads myself in my time!
This is really fascinating. I spend far more hours than I should looking at old maps and seeing what’s changed. I hope you do more videos like this .
Thanks, I hope to be making more videos very soon!
What a brilliant site. Thanks for introducing me to the Side by side map. fantastic.
You're welcome!
I did find this fascinating. While coming across ghost roads is likely a global thing, we certainly have very similar ones here in the US, I was struck by the differences: the public walking paths, for one, and the abundance of old milk bottles, for another.
It's very rare to find old milk bottles here, and you'll be much more likely to find old soft drink bottles or beer bottles instead.
It also surprises me that there's so much old bottles left along a path that seems to be regularly walked, you'd think more people would carry them out once in a while, instead of just leaving them that way.
It will be interesting if the park does come in, if you could make a video there in a few more years, referencing this one to show what it was once like.
I really enjoyed your enthusiasm, and the great efforts you went to to show us the history of these sites which aren't even there anymore.
Well done!
It was sad to see that much litter around. The town I live in has a group of volunteers that go out and litter pick, lots of OAPs and such. They're great. Most of the woodlands here are managed, so no litter but I suppose if you go off the beaten path you will find it.😢
The development around Bedford and Kempston is both impressive and depressing at the same time.
You have to cherish these spots while you still can. They're the type of places the council decides to put pronged fences around when they remember they're there.
I loved this , keep making them, great to see old bottles etc
Thanks Anne. Great to find a few old artefacts!
20 secs in, youve got me hooked 😊, I do love any history from our country
That NLS resource is fabulous - I used it many years ago to locate the streets in London where my parents and grandparents lived - all gone now due to "redevelopment" and the Blitz.
In addition to the UK maps there are British Army trench maps of parts of Belgium in WW1. Using these and the after battle reports we managed to locate the trench line where my Uncle John would have been when he was killed - no grave site just a mention on the Ploegsteert (Plugstreet to Tommies) War Memorial.
I'm a retired highway engineer and, when preparing plans for new or diverted roads, always used to slip this rubric into the background of the drawings somewhere. It comes from a map of Colonial era Boston, Massachusetts and reads:
WARNING: Roads are shifted, houses burn, are abandoned or rebuilt; a round world distorts a flat map; man’s memory is fallible; expect not exactness.
very true isn't it?
Fascinating stuff, many thanks. I love the odd bits of wry humour. Please keep exploring (and videoing) .. I'll certainly watch again.
Super interesting video, I love exploring old abandoned infrastructure.
You just got a subscriber. Keep doing videos like these. It's nice to see forgotten relics of the past.
Fantastic video, love this sort of thing. Also fascinated by old ghost railways, would be great to see you make a video on that one day! Keep it up 👍🏻
Our Greenland is forever being concreted over 😢
sick video dude, love this style of video, just exploring places no one else would really think to, great stuff dude, keep it up!
Cheers Micah!
Pieces of history forgotten by many it’s refreshing to see people have interests in these topics. Great video man!
Love this sort of thing. Always been interested in old wartime airfields. Keep exploring👍
Really sad seeing the brickworks being demolished. It would make an incredible museum and convention centre now.
These roads are a Fly-Tippers paradise!
Not only that, it’s the sort of place you may stumble across a dead body.
The white substance on the new build brickwork is salt leeching out of the mortar. It's called efflorescence. It'll go away eventually but it water soluble so it can't be washed off, it can be dry brushed off but that would take ages haha.
Liked the geoguesser reference 😅
Interesting video. Think I'll get addicted to those side by side maps. I grew up in Northamptonshire and lived in MK and also Kempston briefly, so quite familiar with the area.
Subbed.
Thanks for name checking the Ghost Roads group on Facebook. Glad we gave you the inspiration. I'll share your video to the group now. - Ian.
No problem. Thanks Ian!
The thought of Universal bulldozing yet another chunk of our dwindling countryside and congesting the Bedford area is unimaginably depressing.
Especially when they are going to need good fertile ground to grow food as the population just keeps increasing.
Fantastic & really interesting video! Looking forward to seeing more content! Really enjoyed the antique litter spotting side quest! Something that I frequently do when out walking near roads!
Glad you enjoyed it! I could've made a whole separate video on the old litter. Maybe I will...
@@BrickDust you definitely should! Keep up the great work! 👍
@@BrickDustoh & congratulations on hitting 1000 subscribers!
I've been using this website for ages. I live in York and it's interesting see the old ww2 airfields and what's there now. You don't notice so much on normal maps but Comparing a 1940s map to current satellite imagery you can see the outlines of the old runaways. It's great for tracking old railway lines too
Brilliant, absolutely loved this, it's a bit like mystery mudlarking meandering. Keep going
Looks like a promising new channel.
Here in Kent, in Nature Reserves close to the M25 & M20 we find lots of aged bottles and cans. They were mostly left by the workers who constructed the new roads (like yours), moved on, and left their litter behind. Mostly milk bottles & soft drinks, very few beer cans. Foremen would sack workers drinking alcohol at lunch. So now you know why so many milk bottles. Interesting video by the way. Keep it up. Some people distinguish the roads by referring to them as new or old 'alignments'. Apologies for rambling on.
That's interesting, I was wondering about the excessive milk bottles.
My assumption with the milk bottles is that they are from the 1990’s when Unigate milk floats would still be common doing early morning delivery rounds & the date would tie in with the Schweppes can.
This reminds me of all those times when I've gone home with half a field on my shoes...and on one memorable occasion wet chalk clay up to my knees after exploring an abandoned quarry, lol. Very interesting video and I'm now wondering where there might be some ghost roads here in East Devon. Good stuff! :)
You should have a look! I bet there are loads in Devon too. :)
If that field has a public footpath across, big American Theme park company will have to honour it!
I hope so!
Yeah, big American theme park company’s are universally know to honour roads
If they do, it will likely they are allowed to re-route the path around the outside of their site.
Meanwhile we’ll be starving as more agricultural land gets swallowed up by greedy developers.
Extremely interesting video. Thank you. I have subscribed. Looking forward to watching more of your work. 😊
Its 3:29AM and I'm watching a video on old roads, and its oddly fascinating
3:28 for me 😅
3:54 for me lmao
He's like a less creepy bald and bankrupt!
I really enjoy the little facts and stories you throw in the journey, great video! Subbed, please do more :)
Thank you! Will do!
Very interesting subject, it's amazing how quickly these roads return to nature.
This got recommended to me while smoking a joint, and decided to watch it. Love RUclips's algorythm surprising me, very interesting video to say the least. Earned that sub and like mate, keep it up haha :D
No clue how this appeared in my reccomended, but love it, really interesting topic. I'll certainly come back!
I love anything like this!! Good work!
Great to see the area covered having gone to school in Elstow as a child… moved away to Worcestershire 25 years ago
I think exactly as you said on video. Like those shweppes/tizer cans i think "who threw it out of the car, is the car long gone as well as the person in it?" Strangely fascinating. Enjoyable video 👍
Cheers Chris. Yeah I could spend hours wondering about that sort of thing!
This is something i've always been fascinated by, great to see someone filming it, and doing a great job of it too. Looking forward to more, big thumbs up! 👍
Love this thank you . Know that area well . My grandfather was involved in many projects putting in new roads next to these old ghost roads.
It’s fascinating how quickly nature takes hold again in a comparatively short time .
Your channel just appeared on my recommendation. New sub 👍
Fascinating. Please do more videos!
Some of these . Have probably got less potholes than the ones in use.😊
I still remember the first bypass. I used to go to Leighton Buzzard and other places round there. Seeing the old redundant land which was the brickworks at stewartby is sad. Seeing the chimneys was like a beacon to half way point home.
It's hard to believe there's now not a single brickworks chimney left!
Please continue to make more videos - i feel like you can make any walk or explore interesting!
Cracking video look forward to more.
Hi pal great vid.. about the salt deposits on the bricks of the new build, Use water and mild detergent to scrub the surface of the brick. For exterior walls, use a garden hose to spray the efflorescence with water. Brilliant vid though very good 👍🏻
Cheers pal, great knowledge!
In relation to the white marks on the bricks, I work for a large brick manufacturer and can tell you that is lime oozing out of the brick. It means the mixture used was not done to specification and can be considered a poor quality product. There is a chemical that can be sprayed on to the surface to prevent the lime from escaping. The builders here haven't done it though. I agree that it is ugly and for so many bricks on these new buids to have it, is a really shoddy job.
brilliant stuff you are keeping history fresh ,thank you for your service 🙏
If you ever visit New York, join me on the Long Island Motor Parkway. Yesterday (4/17/24) was 86 years since it closed. Some parts eventually reopened, and only about 9 of the original 65 bridges remain. The road was about 45 miles long. I am Chris, 42, and I work in the summers at a NY state park near my apartment.
Nice! i think you could also visit and investigate old drove roads too,loads around…one being old Shaftesbury drove 🙂👍🏻
The problem with side-by-side maps is that there is nothing from the 1970s onwards, so most of the road layouts that we remember aren't shown.
Google Earth goes back to 1999, which can be quite interesting.
I used to live in a housing estate that cut off a country road, with part of the road being turned into a footpath within the estate. I walked down the remains of it a few times, was kind of weird.
I enjoyed that, very interesting and well presented. Hats off to you.
Fascinating video, and interesting to see the archive footage of the coronation brickworks! I'm also a local to the area so will have to see what other ghost roads are nearby...
As a local for the past 40+ years that was very interesting, thank you. When, not if :-) , Universal develop the site it will be good to look back at videos like this to get a bit of perspective.
Just found you. Fascinating and I can see I’m not the only old person watching you, the salt deposits that leech out of the bricks as they dry will come off after a rainy period. I find old maps and ghost road fascinating too, quite a few about the village where I live. Good work. 😊
Thanks Hatty, I've been wondering about the salt deposits for a long time!
great video! i find this kind of stuff very interesting. i live about 5 minutes from a road that was closed in 2003, so i'm not sure if it can be called a ghost road yet, but its already very overgrown with undergrowth slowly creeping in.
Very interesting video, fabilous to see someone comparing old areas with new, especially roads. Have often come across odd ones in my travels and thought about the past especialy buildings, litter etc. Old maps great for showing up old footpaths that are still legal also, even though not on new maps either paper or online. History we must not forget. Thanks....
Cheers Gary. The old maps are fantastic aren't they!
@@BrickDust yes, they are, always look for old paper maps, The use of these has got me out of a few issues, only once in a big wrong issue, half old map half me🤣😊 in Cumbria..
I live right next to a "ghost road". There's a gated portion I drive along to access my home, then an officially stopped up portion which had the bollards removed years ago but has been largely disused for anything until recently, then the other side of the bypass there's a portion which is much more ghost road ish, just a footpath now.
As a local, i found this interesting. Good video!
Very interesting and your local knowledge was a bonus.
You're so much like me with the history interest, it's really nice to see someone out there with the same interests.
Really hope you do carry on with these videos! Never seen anything like it and never thought of using that site in that way! Off to look at my doomsday village on there...
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it so much. I will definitely do more!
Found this channel purely by accident, but I'm glad that I did! A great video on a fascinating subject. Well presented and very informative 👏 Looking forward to more!
Very interesting video I haven't done old roads I usually match up old buildings with present day, the old maps come in useful for checking I am in the right area.
I love comparing the old buildings too.
Love this mate, really interesting, I'm not too far from these, being based in south Cambridgeshire, there's plenty of them around here too. Also would like to see more uploads from you when you can mate, good content so far and people love this type of factual info videos, and you are yourself in the video, really good content mate thus far. Also has anyone ever said you sound like Jay from inbetweeners 😂😮. Keep up good work mate
I’m 66 and thought I was the only person that was interested in these roads🏴👍. As for a theme park on beautiful farm land. That’s shocking. Plenty old industrial waste land that should be considered first.
Hi mate, great video. Being from luton, ive walked these areas many times, but didn't know much of what you told in the video, so thank you. Look forward to more
Cheers mate!
Hey mate.. nice channel.. interesting approcah..
Keep on searching.. keep on filming!
Good luck!
Wish u happy times!!
Cheers from new friends and followers from southern Europe!!!
Great video! Glad I’m not the only one who finds ghost roads fascinating!
Cheers Ashley!
The salty bricks is called efflorescents. It’s when the salts are trapped in the bricks during manufacturing are drawn out by rain and moisture. It stops after a few months. Easy to clean.
A fascinating upload thanks. One of my favorite exploration memories was of walking along an old, overgrown, disused road in the quiet, northernmost part of Tenerife.
& P.s, cool finds of the beer bottle and milk bottle too. I used to collect them myself. Had victorian one's with marbles in instead of stoppers, -that sort of thing 🙂
I'd love to find one of those marble-stopper bottles!
Where I live many old roads surrounding my home town are gone. Replaced with modern ones and tall embankments where you can't See the landscape. I've since been and found them again a few years ago and was greeted with the old views I remember as a boy. Beautiful views now gone in favour of speed and too many vehicles. But to find and see them again, Happy days!
Absolutely great 👍
A41 and the old A41. We have the same where I live. The A1 and the old A1 (now the Great North Road/A1246)
Great video, i like these videos where people explore abandoned or unused infrascture. I'm biased towards military stuff and train tracks. Neat stuff.
Thanks man! A lot more of this sort of stuff to come hopefully.
Great video, I never knew that ghost roads were a thing. I live in Bedfordshire so all the more interesting!
Thanks Holly! I know, our county is more interesting than people think!
There's one at the end of my road - formerly called Green Lane, in York running from Middlethorpe Grange to SIm Hills. It's part of the National Cycle Network Trans-Pennine Trail these days.
I loved this. Please do more of these.
Plenty more in the pipeline!
If you Google Earth Saxilby and look halfway on the A57 towards Lincoln there is a old road at Colbourne`s Cafe.
Theres a cool little ghost road above thorpe marriot, norwich towards the DNR that leads to an old railway bridge. You feel like a real Alan Partridge walking down it
That milk bottle was from the 70's we had them. They had foil tops birds broke through and stole the cream. So they made smaller metal tops.
This was / is a brilliant video. Very well done, a great mix of humour, facts, local knowledge, history and views. I really liked this video and happily subscribed. Don't change the format too much but your definitely good at these videos. Eagerly awaiting further installments.
Cheers mate, really appreciate that! More videos soon.
Surprised you didn't do the small bit near kempton retail park. Will be interesting to see if universal does anything with the land. Grow up in Bedford now living in Rushden cause its cheaper
Great Video Andrew, really enjoyed it, as you know I love history too. I will have to join you on one of your walks one day. You should do one in my neck of the woods. See you next week and looking forward to having a chat over a pint of Guinness or two 🙂.
Cheers Mick! See you next week 🍻
it's a shame that society rarely has any respect for the past, or care to preserve it - happy to demolish things for the sake of pursuing profit, or to remove the countryside for something as dystopian as a theme park... very sad... those old pubs and chimneys should definitely never have been demolished, what is wrong with people
A great video. Thanks for making it. Looking forward to the next one.
Thanks Peter. Glad you enjoyed it!
I'm kind of addicted to nls maps!
There's a road like this near Wimborne Minster , Dorset towards Corfe Mullen . It was blocked off with metal farm gates and designated a public footpath with small gates for walkers !! Went for or about 2 or 3 miles !! Strangely they was no alternative route put in place !! It was a case of "there are other routes use them ! Don't know if it's still there !! I haven't been in England since 2014 . Back In the 90s I used to ride my motorcycle along it .( It could just squeeze through the gates !) . Sometimes walkers used to moan at me . I would stop and say ! Where are the signs saying no Motor Vehicles ? There were none !
In fact l might go on the on line OS map to see if it's still there !
Yes it was called Willlet Road and was cut in two by the new A31 Wimborne by pass !! Still there according to the OS map !! But not sure what it's status is now !
I might have to go there and take a look when I'm in Dorset!
There is a distinct artistic beauty in these disused roads. We have some where i live , slayn by the beasts that are bypasses. One runs along the perpendicular of a bypass, atop it for a short way being at one time a main road. Whats magnificantly evidenced is that many of these large MAIN roads before bypass were actually not very wide, often seeming to have no overtake room and thus showing them to be the death traps they often were with thier notoruous bends and accident black spots. The worst stretch of road ive ever drove is the entrance to. ALFORD in lincolnshire, coming from the boston direction, back roads which once were the main roads which underlate and bend in constant crazy ways til at one point you drive higher and higher in a slow climb ever up toward the clouds. Then atop it and round more tree lined woods we then have a massively steep downward drive that curves at the end toward the left and into the village of ALFORD (near skegness) beautiful area , beautiful drive in a open top sports car on a summer afternoon.