The Great North Road was the main highway between England and Scotland from medieval times until the 20th century. It became a coaching route used by mail coaches travelling between London, York and Edinburgh. The modern A1 mainly parallels the route of the Great North Road. Coaching inns, many of which survive, were staging posts providing accommodation, stabling for horses and replacement mounts. Nowadays virtually no surviving coaching inns can be seen while driving on the A1, because the modern route bypasses the towns in which the inns are found.
Southern end of St John Street in London, with Smithfield Market visible in the distance. The island in the middle of the road marks the former site of Hicks Hall
The Great North Road, through Sutton-on-Trent
The A1 at South Mimms, Hertfordshire, approaching Junction 1 with the M25 and A1(M)
The 1920s Wansford bridge carrying the Great North Road over the River Nene, the boundary between the Soke of Peterborough and Huntingdonshire
St. Martin's Le Grand
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St. Martin's Le Grand is a former liberty within the City of London, and is the name of a street north of Newgate Street and Cheapside and south of Aldersgate Street. It forms the southernmost section of the A1 road. For many years St. Martin's Le Grand was "often used as a synonym for the chief postal authorities, as Scotland Yard is used to designate the police", the headquarters of the General Post Office having been there from 1829-1984.
Engraving by G.J. Emblem after T. Allom: The Post Office, St. Paul's Cathedral, and Bull & Mouth Inn, London in 1829.
The same view in 2007
The Royal Mails Starting from the General Post Office, London. Richard Gilson Reeve, 1830.
St. Martin's Le Grand looking north, c.1900 (GPO buildings highlighted).