page_title: A30 road
section_title: 17th – 18th centuries
hierarchical_section_title: A30 road / History / 17th – 18th centuries
caption_attribution_description: The Road From LONDON to the LANDS END Comencing at the Standard in Cornhill and Extending to Senan in Cornwall
context_page_description: The A30 is a major road in England, running WSW from London to Land's End. It is 284 miles long.
  The road was a principal axis in Britain from the 17th century to early 19th century, when it was a major coaching route. It used to provide the fastest route from London to the South West by land until a century before roads were numbered; nowadays much of this function is performed by the M3 and A303 roads. The road has kept its principal status in the west from Honiton, Devon to Land's End where it is mainly dual carriageway and retains trunk road status.
context_section_description: The bulk of the A30 follows the historic London – Land's End coaching road. The road appeared on John Ogilby's map of Britain in 1675, and was covered by Ogilby's later strip-maps showing "The Road from London to The Land's End in Cornwall". The coaching route started at Hyde Park Corner, closer to the centre of London than the modern A30, closely mirroring the modern route as far as Exeter, except for three sections from Knightsbridge to Bedfont, Basingstoke to Salisbury via Andover and Exeter to Penzance via Ashburton, Plymouth and following the Cornish south coast via St Austell. Ogilby described it as "The Post-Office making this one of their Principal Roads" and thought the section through Surrey and Hampshire was "in general a very good Road with suitable Entertainment". The road was known to attract significant postal and coach traffic along its length by 1686.
  The route is described as the "Great Road to Land's End" in the Magna Britannia, published in the early 19th century. As the coaching road to Land's End was a major route, it was a popular place for highwaymen. William Davies, also known as the Golden Farmer, robbed several coaches travelling across Bagshot Heath. He was hanged in 1689 at a gallows at the local gibbet hill between Bagshot and Camberley. The Jolly Farmer pub was built near the site of the gallows (gibbet), a junction.
caption: The Road from LONDON to the LANDS END (1675), John Ogilby
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