The Media Archive for Central England is the public screen archive for the East and West Midlands. An independent charity and company based at the University of Lincoln, MACE acquires, catalogues, preserves and makes widely available moving image materials that inform our understanding of the diverse cultures and histories of communities between the Lincolnshire coast and the Welsh border.
This film is part of Free
Hampton in Arden Traffic
Somewhat awkwardly dubbed the 'heavy lorries Silverstone of the Midlands', Hampton in Arden now needs a bypass.
From the collection of:
Overview
By 1965 the residents of Hampton in Arden had been waiting ten years for a bypass. To jaded modern eyes the traffic might not look too bad but, to be fair, reporter David Lloyd was probably there at a quiet time in the middle of the day and, even so, there are certainly a fair number of lorries struggling through the village. He should have waited a bit longer though as the locals were planning a village blockade and with only a single policeman on duty it could well get a bit heated.
When this was filmed Hampton in Arden was part of Warwickshire. In the 1974 local government changes it became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull. In recent years the A452 dual carriageway and the M42 have taken heavy lorry traffic away from Hampton in Arden, which was designated a conservation area in 1968.
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