4. Railway storage yard

It was not until the seventeenth century that a distinct route between London and Bristol began to resemble today’s road. During the seventeenth century it became known as The Great Road to Bristol. When Queen Anne began patronising the spa city of Bath, the road became more commonly known as Bath Road. This stretch of road in Saltford still bears that name.  As Bath became more popular with the wealthy and famous, Turnpike Trusts were set up to pay for maintenance to the road. With improvements made to the road system, the business of moving mail became easier and more profitable. Journey times from Bristol to London fell from 2 days in 1752 to only 18 hours by 1836.  In the early part of the nineteenth century coaching was at its height. By 1836, there were ten stagecoaches each day carrying passengers to and from London along the Bath Road.But with the rise of the railways stagecoaches were shortlived. The Great Western Railway followed a very similar route with stations in many of the same towns as the road passed through. By 1843, the coaching service had finished altogether.In the twentieth century, the A4 lost its status as the primary road between London and Bristol when the M4 motorway was built in the late 1960s. Journey time from London to Bristol by car is now about 2 hours – quite different from the days of the mail coaches!