Secrets Of The No Longer A Motorway - M10 Hertfordshire

#motorway #infrastructure #m10
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In this video, I'm pleased to be looking at a motorway, or at least, what used to be a motorway. Join me as I explore and explain why and how this Motorway came to be, and why it's no longer a motorway. Once known as the M10, it was a popular motorway once upon a time playing a crucial role in the early days of motorways.

[@tolby53]

In the 1980s, before a crash barrier was installed along the M10, I was caught up in a big traffic jam caused by a bad accident, causing the road to be blocked. There wasn't a lot of traffic on the other (north bound) carriageway, so everyone was doing u turns to go back on the M1 to Hemel and avoid the jam, so I, along with hundreds of other drivers, have done a U turn on a motorway.

[@hairyairey]

There are occasions when the Police will get drivers to make a U turn on a motorway. You can't queue forever.

[@elelegidosf9707]

This is the only channel for road dorks that I know of - the fact that it is growing so fast shows how many of us there are!

[@MADMATJOHNSON]

Yes! We’ve been blessed with more Auto Shenanigans! 🎉

[@David_Crayford]

Amen. 🙏

[@buggs9950]

2:53 He giveth and He taketh away..

[@heckelphon]

In the 1960s the start of the M10 was a good hitch-hiking point for going north. It had a wide shoulder and nobody seemed to mind pulling off to the left to collect hitchers before they could accelerate away to limitless speeds!

[@barrieshepherd7694]

Back then it was pouring with rain and my dad pulled in around there to pick up a hitcher who was drenched and in need of pity. Turned out it was our, recently moved in, neighbours son hitching from Uni for his first visit to his parents new home! It was his lucky day - door to door service.

[@paul70uk]

The very bottom of the M1 at Staples corner used to be a popular spot too.

[@xr6lad]

I honestly can’t remember the last time I saw a hitch hiker. Must be decades.

[@heckelphon]

@@xr6lad Yes, it seems like something from another age, doesn't it?!

[@alantheskinhead]

I recall hitchhiking from the then new J1 at the NCR. In those days you could stand on the slip road and get a lift. My dad would often stop a pick up squaddies and take them up to Watford Gap where he would drop them off for the next leg of hitchhiking.

[@stephenyates962]

Yes! The return of the Secrets of the Motorway jingle. Anyone for a Northern Ireland Motorway series? Jon?

[@pw3789_quacky]

yes

[@SoonWeather]

It could’ve been a414M

[@adamjolley8552]

I like this video so I pressed the button specifically for that 👉🏻

[@samholdsworth420]

This button 👎🏻?

[@4879daniel]

Like it so much I pressed it twice

[@Abionytrl]

Sush​@@samholdsworth420

[@interstellaraudiodnb]

As did i😊

[@Michael.Dobson]

That's HWICKED, SWEET, AWESOME!

[@MelanieRuck-dq5uo]

I hadn't realised that motorway bridges were 'designed'. I thought that they were simply knocked up by a load of blokes. You learn something new every time with Auto Shenanigans!

[@chriswaites1222]

They essentially are. The design was so it could pivot for any angle, just need a few blokes with concrete to turn the blueprints at the correct angle.

[@sydnorth5868]

I used to use the M10 a lot. Coming out of London on the anticlockwise M25, heading for the M1 North, you could leave the M25 at J22 and take the A1081, A414 and M10 to the M1. On a Friday afternoon it would cut out about 2 miles of stationary traffic on the M1 north from the M25 junction. It was a useful rat run which is probably even better now as the A 414 will take you to J8 of the M1.

[@shakedown1979]

Another very local-to-me episode, 😀I remember the days when once you got on the M10 from the Park Street roundabout that was it, your fate was sealed. It is also the same piece of motorway where I achieved the fastest clocked-speed I can remember (in the other direction because it’s a slight downhill), which is clearly 70mph.

[@type17]

Agreed, it was a handy place for 'vehicle-testing', as there are two reasonably long straights and no junction slip roads for plod to hide on. Of course you had to be careful - I once came upon a Lada upside down in the outside lane, the driver having got distracted and clipped the central barrier (he was fine).

[@pierremartini2229]

Back in the 1960s, we joined the M1 via the M10 on our way from Surrey to my grandparents in Derby. From junction 18, it was a series of A roads and even a B road through Hinckley and Ashby. Happy days.

[@Cadcare]

Watching the 'Like' and 'View' counters tick over while writing a comment for the video is like watching the odometer on a car. Good stuff, John.

[@David_Crayford]

I am waiting for the *2 hours ago* to tick over. Better make a hot drink while I wait.

[@laurencecharlton8760]

Why is this one of the best channels?Facts!Also sarcasm has never been bettered!!👍👍😂

[@brianjrichman]

I used to use the M10 to get from the M25 to/from the M1 all the time in the 1980's and 1990's. Avoided all the mess at the M25/M1 interchange. Many a rush hour coming round the M25 from the east and traffic was stopped at the exit for Napsbury and then onto the M10 at 80MPH. Way faster than waiting for the M1 exit in a traffic jam on the M25.

[@hublanderuk]

I do this now other than a couple of Roundabouts the A414 can take you to London Coney and join the M25 there. Saves the demolition derby at the M1 / M25 junction and people changing lanes at the last minute.

[@theoriginalghostmanghostma2385]

Plus avoided potentially joining a jam on the 25 in the days before waze et al, I always picked the m10 travelling hemel to potters bar

[@darthwiizius]

@@hublanderuk I used to get on the 25 once a week one junction (if you can call it that) west of South Mimms going down to Redhill then on the way back from Windsor using this junction. I don't have an issue using the spiral bout at S. Mimms, it's simple and logical, but I've always had fewer issues doing this especially as I used to be in the rush hour in both directions.

[@RogerNorman-q6x]

Remember it well. Had a relative who lived Berkhampstead way. My family Croydon. The M10 ( when it opened) was the Gateway to The North. Also remember the car my old man had getting a broken windscreen on the M10 - before the days of Triplex Screens etc. By the time he stopped the car he was covered in claret from broken glass hitting him. Oh the joys of 60’s motoring.

[@paulketchupwitheverything767]

People would sometimes punch a hole through the frosted/shattered toughened glass windscreen so that they had small opening that they could see through to continue driving. I remember someone having a badly cut hand after doing that.

[@RogerNorman-q6x]

@@paulketchupwitheverything767 yes he did that I seem to recall but he didn’t think about the bits then breaking off around that hole and hitting him in the face.

[@senseal5462]

This is the perfect kind of Content i need after a awfull shift at work

[@RD-ht6go]

Aw glad you brought back the old intro music in the end.

[@princeofgonville]

My favourite motorway. The start of many of our family journeys. Thanks John.

[@JohnR_ytbe]

Hey thanks John! I asked you about doing this one on Twitter! Used to be my favourite motorway

[@FXCartel]

Another quality video to save the week, come for the content and stay for the comments because the auto shenigans community is one of the best. So many stories an views an opinions on these roads that many generations will have no clue or faint memories of. Keep up the great work John and gang

[@ramblingsofafatbrokenman1211]

Brilliant, thank you for the most excellent information about this. It's always been a favourite of the local speedsters due to it not having any junctions & places for the old bill to hide

[@ChrisBrown-px1oy]

Perfect follow-up to the A41(M) video, thanks Jon. What fascinates me about this road and the nearby stretch of the M1 is the crossings of the small single-track lanes. Potters Crouch Lane, where I think Jon's standing at 3:57, was widened and kerbed for a good half-mile around the bridge as if the engineers anticipated a future of unlimited upgrades: the England of Ernest Marples and Richard Beeching. It never happened.

[@gordonc5354]

I checked the lane out on Google maps street view and thought for 2 seconds it said Peter Crouch Lane!!!!!!

[@ttrjw]

Oooh nice Owen Williams bridge opening shot.

[@frankmitchell3594]

Well that answers a puzzle for me! I often wondered what happened to the M10 that I used to see signposted off the M1 and then I didn't.

[@Murphy575]

Fun but incredibly dull fact for you, there's a bridge going over the 'M10' carrying Watford Road. It was discovered after the downgrade that this bridge was now too low and a temporary speed restriction of 50mph was introduced. This continued for at least 7 years until I contacted the council and asked them to collect their disgarded signs as the speed limit was never enforced nor was it followed. They responded that the signs were not disgarded and were because the bridge was too low and it was too expensive to raise the bridge. I suggested they lowered the road instead. 6 months later the 'm10' was resurfaced, rather conveniently at a lower level and the temporary speed limit was lifted

[@pontyexpat]

Fond memories of my daily commute from Bedfordshire into Borehamwood (via A414 Hemel), between 1994-2004, usually around 07:15 when the morning commute meant the M10 was still relatively quiet. Had a Nissan 200SX, and with no places for the motorway patrols to lay up without being seen on that short stretch, I could touch top speed for two miles (around double the limit) before running out of tarmac at the roundabout. Unfortunately, on one such early run, one bright winter's morning, I was bit less observant than usual and found myself undertaking a Rover 3500 jamjar, that was in the right hand lane to head back down to his Watford base. He pulled me over to have a chat. No point in denying I may been a little quick, we got along okay. But as the Officer was single crewed and didn't have a speed gun, he had no evidence of speed - admitted I may have been doing 80-85; he had a quick look over my Nissan. I'd only recently returned from a weekend visit to Bavaria, snow and ice meant autobhans had been well gritted and were slushy. I'd not noticed my (recessed) rear number plate was covered in grime so he wrote me up a ticket, made me clear muck off, before setting off and I wasn't too unhappy with a £25 fixed penalty notice for the number plate infraction. Happier motoring times.

[@iangame7234]

This is exactly what I was thinking of when I saw your channel. I used this route daily going to Hatfield Polytechnic from Bedfordshire. Great rundown on how it worked. Thanks John!😊

[@hairyairey]

Have cycled this Eastbound, which involves cycling ridiculously close to the M1! This has beyond doubt the widest cycle lanes on any A road in the country. At the time I did it the emergency phones were still there but I doubt they are connected to anything. Now to watch the actual video...

[@Novabug]

How strange, I was just commenting to my father the other day about the M10, and if/why not John has did a video on it. And here it is!

[@StukaUK]

I used it every day for 15 years as the M10, and I only now hear it’s changed. I worked in Hemel until 10 years before Buncefield destroyed the building I worked in. Phew! It was a Sunday morning anyway so I probably wouldn’t have been there.

[@tigglepig]

I was woken up by that explosion on that Sunday morning. I live 46 miles away from Buncefield.

[@turnfordguitars]

Great video. Downgrading to 414 also allowed non motorway traffic to get to & from hemel! Previously you had to drive through all the villages!

[@timbounds7190]

When I was a kid in the 60s, the term 'Motorway Terminal' was often bandied around. To me, these sounded so grand and exciting, and I was somewhat disappointed to find that a 'Motorway Terminal' was normally basically a Roundabout!

[@stuart23969]

Should be arcades and foodstalls

[@willtricks9432]

Park Field was a Crazy Roundabout but there was a Burger Van there on the Layby going west and the second worst toilet on Earth.

[@_chrisr_]

I regularly go to Hertfordshire and travel down M45/M1/A414 - nice to understand why the junction between M1/A414 is the way it is

[@kriss_b]

Lovely to hear the old theme again ☺️

[@rhinogooner]

As a retired lorry driver I have used that section many many times. Interesting to know how and why it all changed.

[@eddiemaylor2716]

I have used the M10 so many times over the years, it was the start or end of many journeys.

[@shahedmc9656]

I remember the old Highway Code book which showed some direction signs. One of the advance direction signs was that of a roundabout. Straight ahead was "Birmingham M10 (M1)".

[@bigcahoonaburger8550]

Who would have thought a year ago I’d be watching clips about motorways.However due to its interesting, factual and dry humoured shenanigans I find myself subscribed still. It’s like watching Time team mixed with Blackadder. Just out of interest how many miles do you cover a year doing this?

[@tasty_fish]

Ah finally. It’s only been on that OS map on the wall behind you in your studio all this time!

[@andykilvington1651]

Going back to my roots....!

[@RuaridhMacleod-z1r]

Great video! An another lost motorway, worthy of a shout is the former A601(M) in Carnforth, Lancashire. Would be great to see an updated video on that!

[@terryhoath1983]

When the M1/M10/M45 were opened, the M10 and M45 were vital to the scheme. The M10 was the St.Albans By-Pass and the M45 was the Daventry By-Pass. Within days of it opening, my dad took my brother and I for a ride on the MI between Berry Grove (the southern end) and Treacle Bumpstead (Hemel Hempstead) in our 1938 Triumph Dolomite (my Dad said it was a bit heavy on the steering but a lovely car). It would be a couple of decades before I would use the M10 and then only one other occasion. It might not have been any use to us/me but that didn't mean that it wasn't of use to other people and brought huge benefits to many others. They didn't want heavy traffic coming down the M1 including A6 traffic (picked up at Luton) to the Redbourn junction and then the whole lot picking up the A5 (now the A5183 for some reason) heading for the London Docks straight through the middle of St.Albans to pick up the A6 (now the A1081 for some reason) on the south-east side (and vice versa, obviously). Although the M10 is a bit longer than the A5 and A6 routes, it saved fuel and an awful lot of drivers' time .... and time was then (as now), money. It also made St.Albans a far more pleasant place and relieved the monstrous traffic jams approaching the City in all directions. Not only did this reduce pollution in the city but dramatically reduced journey times for both bus and car commuters. The A405 was the first attempt at the M25. The Department of Transport began purchasing land for the M25, to my certain knowledge, from before 1928. They hadn't conceived of 3,4,5, and 6 lane in each direction road but more like 2 lane dual carriageway crossing the radial roads at large roundabouts. The A414 (a branch of the A41) ran from Hemel Hempstead slap bang through the centre of St,Albans then directly to Hatfield and on to Hertford and to Essex (bits of it are now the A4147 and A1057 for some reason). The A6 (now the A 1081and B556 for some reason) from the centre of St.Albans runs in a south-easterly direction to pick up the A1 at South Mimms. The M10 was a brilliant piece of planning carrying the great majority of the through traffic previously clogging St.Albans between the M1 on the one hand and the Park Street Roundabout (A5 to Marble Arch and the West End) and on via the new A405 (Londom North Orbital Road) to the London Colney Roundabout (A6) and then via the A6 to the A1 and to the Docks. The M45 did the sane for Daventry, and to a lesser extent for Rugby. The A45 passed straight through the centre of Daventry and, before the M45, Daventry was becoming more and more of a lorry driver's nightmare. As with the M10 around St.Albans the M45 dramatically reduced commuting times in and out of Daventry. It was nearly 30 years before congestion at Park Street Roundabout was relieved by the M25 proper when Margaret Thatcher formally opened the M25 in 1986. The first bit of the M25 (South Mimms - Potters Bar) opened in 1975 was nothing more than the Barnet By-Pass directing the M10 - Docks traffic to the north and east of Barnet. Compared to the cost of building motorways, the M10 - A6 route could have been future proofed and millions of hours of drivers time through the 1960s and 1970s if the M10 having lost half of its' traffic to the slip roads to the Roundabout had been extended in an one lane in each direction underpass (with bridging to allow for dualling later) under the Park Street Roundabout and then a one lane in each direction underpass under the London Colney Roudababout to link the M10/A405 with the A6 (now A1081) The 2 lane section of the M1 between Hemel Hempstead and Berry Grove AND Berry Grove interchange M1/A41 were perfectly adequate until the early 1970s. Only then, with the 3 lane extension of the M1 from Berry Grove to the 5 ways interchange and then to the North Circular/A5, was there any problem with increasing bunching approaching Berry Grove from London with the traffic merging from 3 to 2 lanes. To begin with, the bunching only arose on a Friday evening peak period possibly adding 1-4 then 3-7 minute delays for about half an hour spreading to the other evening periods as the mid-1970s progressed. I KNOW. I USED TO COMMUTE IN AND OUT OF LONDON AND LEFT THE M1 FOR THE A41 AT BERRY GROVE ABOUT 5.30 P.M. MOST MONDAYS-FRIDAYS AT THAT TIME.

[@lefthandedspanner]

other surviving sections examples of vintage motorway are M50 (opened 1960), and A404(M) (opened 1963 as part of M4) A1(M) Doncaster bypass (opened 1961) is also largely unaltered in design, other than addition of M18, the removal of at-grade roundabouts at each ends, and the addition of traffic lights to the A630 junction

[@michaelcolllett9082]

Thank you history lesson,as car user, fantastic roads stories behind

[@haggielady]

I love the propeller you have on your head at 2:17. Perfect placement sir.

[@alantheskinhead]

I remember as kid that the M1 got a bit weird after the old M10 junction. At that time (late 1970's) the M1 was only a duel carriageway from said M10 for a few miles before returning to a proper three lane motorway with hard shoulder the closer you got to London. Also at the time the Ministry of Transport used that part of the road for experimental road marking paint, signs and road surfaces. Up until fairly recently there were some old signage that stated "Road Noise Ahead" and indeed there was a lot of road noise or not depending on your tyres. It is still used for the road surface testing as there is the new test grooved surface that runs for a mile or so on the southbound side near Watford turn. Also just past the old M10 junction you'll find one of the remaining original "Police Traps" where Police cars could hide up a launch ramp out of the way to catch speeding motorists like my mother doing 84mph in a 70 limit in a Mk 2 Cortina estate (Between J5 and J4). They lied and said she was doing 104 so my dad had the tested by the RAC to near destruction and it could only achieve 87mph. She won the case and still has issues with the police now some 50 years later! Also old clips of "On the Buses" with Reg Varny use Junction 4 (now) when they take a wrong turn in a double decker bus. And as a bonus if you go further down the M1 to the A41 overpass (Western Ave) you'll find the partially abandoned duel carriageway of the A41. Last time I went over the bridge half of it was grass! There are some really interesting bits of the M1 around there from secret underpasses to lost junctions. Many of us still call London Gateway by it's proper name... Scratchwood Services! But more recently the old M10 came to the rescue of the M1 when Buncefield blew up. My mate was diverted off the M1 down the old M10/A414 as the M1 was starting to get a bit smokey. We heard the explosion and saw the smoke in north London.... I have grown up with the M1 and still have an affinity with it now. My earliest memories are of M1/M10!!

[@johnwiesen4440]

I have driven down it as the M10 and the A 414 many times.

[@ianbrown-zw8pz]

Was heading for The De Havilland Museum the other day via the M1 and I pointed out to my son that the M10 had disappeared! He was sceptical but we carried on. On the way back I realised that we WERE ON THE OLD M10! And now we have the definitive answer to the puzzle - thank you!

[@willtricks9432]

It now identifies as an A Road.

[@kevinrayner5812]

My understanding was that the planners expected half the traffic to go Junction 5 at Watford then continue into London on the A41. With the other half going to St Albans then the A414, A6 and A1 actully meeting up with the A41 at Edgware. So the southern bit of the M1 was 2 lanes each way the same as the M10. When the M1 was extended to Hendon then Staples Corner well you can guess what happened. Everybody used the M1 with horrendous jams on the two lane section. That was eventuallu widened to 3 lanes each way which just about killed of the M10. Only usefull if going to St Albans or Hatfield.

[@marktickner7160]

Welcome back to the Secrets theme too.

[@AB-on1on]

I'm pretty sure the map on the wall behind John at 0:48 shows the M10 and St. Albans before the M25 was built. So he talked about the M10 in front of the M10.

[@GrahamMacdonald-w9o]

An interesting video, although all the information contained in it was lurking away in dark recesses of my brain. I was reminded of the pain of the contraflows in the early 1980s when they were building the third lane on the M1 to the south of the M10. Soon after the M10 was downgraded, I was surprised how quickly the road surface deteriorated. That having been said, the road was so quiet that you could normally move a few feet over to avoid a pothole without much risk of bumping into another car. I no longer live locally but I still use the former M10 to cut the corner to avoid the M1/M25 junction on my way to friends in Kent - just out of habit - but my feeling is that this stretch of road is a lot busier now than in the 1980s and 1990s when it was still a motorway.

[@MrGreatplum]

Love the history of these lost motorways - thanks Jon.

[@iangraham871]

Pointless fact time: I'm not sure i have ever driven along the M10/A414. I'm not convinced i knew where it went, despite having driven the north orbital route numerous times to avoid the M25 car park! The M45, however, has long been a favourite of mine due to being virtually empty and a very quick way of getting away from Coventry! The M50 was a "sister" motorway-to-nowhere built before they extended the M5 south of J8. They could do with restructuring J8 to extend the M50 northeastwards to the M40 J15, to form a new A46, which is now useless as a single carriageway road. Another fascinating video!

[@karlosh9286]

The "A414" ahhh ! the bucket designation for the east to west ( or west to east !) hodge podge of bits of "okay" dual carriage way road, to sometimes pretty crap bits of single carriage way just north of London in Herts, Essex etc ! Worst of all , it often goes back on itself, and occasionally disappears into another road !

[@Eric_L456]

Always a delight!

[@skylarius3757]

On the approach to the London Colney roundabout coming from Hatfield, you can see the old sign still up and covered over where it says M10.

[@ADJLfanatic52]

I’ve been wanting to do this for my area of Northeast Ohio. A bunch of the interstates got switched around here.

[@scottishcarenthusiastsandtrain]

Another fantastic episode as always Jon.

[@martineyles]

I drove through the Plough and along the M10 just before the downgrade to avoid an accident on the M25. In subsequent months I drove along the M1 a fair bit as they were constructing the separate parallel road. I was also a frequent user of the M45 at the time.

[@neilriley4656]

Cheers Jon. I loved this one and will now afford the A414 with the respect it’s heritage deserves. As opposed to just using it as a convenient diversion because Waze told me I could save 14 nanoseconds. Bridges between 5&18, Owen Williams, wow! I may just hate the M1 a little less now,. All the best.

[@MartinCook-kg1vn]

This was also one of my recommendations for Hertfordshire :)

[@ggmtv1394]

Thanks for that - local interest. You can almost see my house in some of the shots - you should have called in for a coffee..

[@diydave3034]

I lived near Hatfield, girl friend lived in Hemel. Been down that M10, (when it was the M10), more than a few times!!

[@philsharp758]

1:46 an interesting radio mast in the background. If only we knew someone who was an authority on such a subject. :-)

[@paul70uk]

If I'm travelling southbound on the M1 to Reload in Tilbury I always use the 414 then turn right at St Albans to join the M25 rather than join the M25 via the M1. Nice video.

[@NicholasNA]

Many happy journeys on the M10 in the back of my parent’s Ford Anglia …

[@peterthebricky]

When I was on twitter I used to follow an artist Jen Orpin specialising in motorway bridges really good

[@blisteringbarnaclesmagnets6364]

Good afternoon John ⚓️🧲👍

[@AdamFahn]

I've been waiting for the M10!

[@veloistist]

Thanks for this. I used the M10 in the 80s and I never understood what happened to it when I used the M1 back in the 2010s. Back in the 80s I used some really weird routes to get from Hastings to the north to avoid London. I recall turning off the M1 south of the M10 on a very tight turn and going toward Slough (yes weird I know) but I am sure there was a short piece of motorway I used to end up on. Memory is not good enough to remember the details.

[@Digital2Jack]

M10 sounds really weird now after hearing is said so much ! haha Great video as always, keep it up !

[@sr6424]

M45 I used to use it quite often! Can’t ever remember being in a traffic jam on it!

[@alantunbridge8919]

I travelled frequently on both of these two in the late 1960’s/ early 1970’s & can assure you that the M1/M10 junction was problematic as you had four lanes of traffic reduced to three & crisscross movements. I recall in the winter of 1968/9 a missive accident there involving many vehicles due to bad visibility. I currently live in Cape Town & near where I live is a similar,if not worse junction where the M3 joins the N2 motorway on a corner & a hill with another junction tacked on . Much crisscrossing fraffic & many consequent accidents quite frequently.

[@tobyjackman3212]

This is the best video I've ever seen about anything

[@roysmith9733]

Great video, thanks John. Many a happy hour spent on the M10 and A414 in the late 90s early 2000s ending from Derbyshire to Hatfield twice week.

[@northseawolf]

A nice slice of 'secrets of the motorway' here! Also interesting to see a wide bridge over the M1 just south of the old M10/A417 bridge. Perhaps this was also meant to carry a bigger road at some point?

[@willtricks9432]

Having Hitch Hiked from Milton Keynes to Essex Many time in the 80's I have been dropped at the Hemel junction and then walked the length of the Former M10 in all weathers and times of day, also walked back from the Park Field Roundabout when no lifts were forthcoming. It is a genuinely nice walk and was quiet sometimes during the day. Couple of times I walked all the way to Harlow along the A414, that was not so pleasant. I do not recommend doing this. Great content as usual. Thanks for the insight.

[@mattdickins2127]

Always come off M1 southbound at this junction to head home past hatfield

[@MartinvonBargen]

Potters Crouch sounds like an experience I'd like to forget

[@ncot_tech]

Does it involve Harry and his wand?

[@MartinvonBargen]

@@ncot_tech With some seductive robotic dancing thrown in for good measure

[@djhrecordhound4391]

LMAO!

[@David_Crayford]

Pottery was originally a cottage industry. Cottages tend to have rather low doorways (I have banged my head on them many times) thus the need to crouch. Hope that helps.

[@MartinvonBargen]

@@David_Crayford Well they do say cottaging can be hazardous to one's health. In all seriousness, that sounds like a really plausible explanation. I wonder what lies behind the naming of the wonderful hamlet Cockintake, Staffs?

[@Bugster42]

ypu are correct about the buried bridge john there were men working with kango hammers for weeks to compact clay to back fill the void you can see where the bridge is by the differing kerb whichj is the paarpet remains

[@AshleyM545]

Thanks

[@AutoShenanigans]

Thanks a lot mate, appreciate it!

[@ChrisBeevor0511]

I was on the “M10” when this video was posted!

[@jennyd255]

Amazing Jon. I drove down that road daily, on my way to work, between 2012/2013 whilst I was doing a rather tasty little engineering contract in Hemel, but I never learned any of that local history.

[@colinrobinson7869]

Just about to ask you for directions from A to B via the A141, M1 and M10 glad I stepped back from that

[@ironryan36]

I use this road a LOT! Very strange stretch of road, I thought it might be part of the unfinished London ringways. Now I know better.

[@Nick-pr5gw]

Thanks so much for clearly explain this complex situation! I knew nothing about this before watching so the important of this video cannot be understated. This is precisely why you are the first and only KZbinr I subscribe to x

[@Sarge084]

Goodness me, I'm slacking! I normally hit the like button *before* settling down to watch the video, but I forgot to do this and almost left at the end without my 'like' firmly registered, but fortunately I glanced at the bottom left corner and realised my error!

[@timfletcher1384]

Great episode. Lots of good info. Interesting to see that after the old M10 (now the A414) ended at the first roundabout it joined what is known as the 'North Orbital Road' which joins up with the A1(M) south of Hatfield. Were there plans to extend this to become a sub-motorway level ring road? Also, if you follow the A414 rejoining it after junction 4 of the A1(M) north of Hatfield, it eventually goes through Hertford and meets the A10 at a junction. After a quick run southbound on the A10, the eastbound A414 re-appears, and heads off towards Harlow. In the section south east of Stanstead Abbots there are two sets of rather large slip roads pointing in different directions (one set joins up with the B181). This is very near where the M11 was supposed to be built....you should check this out! Then the A414 heads into Harlow and becomes bogged down in a series of roundabouts, eventually meeting the M11 south of Harlow, then heading off towards Chelmsford where it very unhelpfully goes through the middle of the city and then turns back on itself and joins the A12.

[@JohnSmith-bx8zb]

Looks like an early trend, the first motorway in the U.K., M6 Preston Bypass was also 2 lane and a absolute fortune was spent widening it over the years.

[@lfoster7601]

Ah, the M10. Remembre heading into Hemel to work on my Laverda RGS, M10 at 90mph, and a BMW came past like I was stood still. Followed by an unmarked traffic cop. How lucky was I!

[@chrisadye1590]

The M1 was also only 2 lanes in each direction between the M10 and it's end at J5. This was also to encourage vehicles to use the M10 instead. Then the M1 was extended with 3 lanes down to J2 and eventually J1 which encouraged most of the traffic onto the M1 and away from the M10. The two lanes between J5 and J7 became a real bottleneck until widened to 3 or 4 lanes in preparation for the M25

[@sampower1735]

Really insightful and fantastic videos.

[@110acer]

Used to drive it all the time

[@stuartwilson23]

Nice little plug for Empire State B*stard on the bridge support!

[@clickrick]

I lived in Park Street for a number of years, so the M10 was very much a local road for me. Back in those days, the road over from Hatfield was the A405, so the renumbering to A414 gave a hint as to what was to come. Then some years later I lived in Hemel (please don't judge me for that!) so it was my local road again. And the rebuilding of J8 was well overdue - the tight curves were a nightmare in anything less that perfect weather or with less than perfect tyres.

[@MrSolodriver]

I also lived in Park Street (well, halfway between Park Street and Bricket Wood) and every Thursday night, after consuming several pints (at 2/6 [12.5p!] per pint) we would all drive from The Lower Red Lion in St.Albans to Hemel to go bowling. It was the only road long enough for me to get my Ariel Leader up to 60mph!

[@AlexDuggan68]

I believe there are two bridges exactly a mile apart. In the days before speed cameras, the police would travel at exactly sixty miles an hour and time their distance to see if they went under the second bridge one minute later. They would then record this, and if required to attend court to prove that someone had been speeding, they could show the speedometer in the police car was working properly.

[@techauthor324]

The 'A414' from the M10 roundabout to Hatfield used to be the A405. So the change of the M10 to A414 is not a continuation as the A405 had to be renumbered also.

[@apc108]

I've used this road regularly since the eighties. You'd think that after losing it's motorway status, you might occasionally see someone parked on the hard shoulder, or maybe even pedestrians or bicyclists on it, but I've never seen it. Not that it would be particularly safe, but theoretically it wouldn't be unlawful . Blandness may indeed be the reason. There's nothing worth stopping for, nor worth walking to. The Hemel end may be the reason for no bicycles, I imagine it can get very sporty at that end.

[@LenaSjogren-yk8rv]

nice and interesting video from you

[@capcompass9298]

I've got a map showing the M10 as a spur to the M25 and Dartford Tunnel/Bridge.