The A307 road is a link road running through SW London and NW Surrey, which is primary at the start but for the most part is now more local in character. It begins at the junction with the A205 South Circular Road beside Kew Green It thens runs through Richmond upon Thames

Richmond upon Thames

Richmond is a town in southwest London, England and is part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is located west-southwest of Charing Cross....

, through Petersham and Ham then onto Kingston upon Thames

Kingston upon Thames

Kingston upon Thames is the principal settlement of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in southwest London. It was the ancient market town where Saxon kings were crowned and is now a suburb situated south west of Charing Cross. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the...

, and ends at Cobham

Cobham, Surrey

Cobham is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, about south-west of central London and north of Leatherhead. Elmbridge has been acclaimed by the Daily Mail as the best place to live in the UK, and Cobham is a prosperous part of the London commuter belt...

  going via Surbiton

Surbiton

Surbiton, a suburban area of London in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, is situated next to the River Thames, with a mixture of Art-Deco courts, more recent residential blocks and grand, spacious 19th century townhouses blending into a sea of semi-detached 20th century housing estates...

, Long Ditton

Long Ditton

Long Ditton is a village in Surrey, England lying on the boundary with Greater London. Neighbouring settlements include Thames Ditton, Surbiton, Tolworth and Chessington.-History:...

, Thames Ditton

Thames Ditton

Thames Ditton is a village in Surrey, England, bordering Greater London. It is situated 12.2 miles south-west of Charing Cross between the towns of Kingston upon Thames, Surbiton, Esher and East Molesey...

, and Esher

Esher

Esher is a town in the Surrey borough of Elmbridge in South East England near the River Mole. It is a very prosperous part of the Greater London Urban Area, largely suburban in character, and is situated 14.1 miles south west of Charing Cross....

. At nearly every point along this route, it is named the Portsmouth Road. At Cobham, the A307 joins the A3

A3 road

The A3, known as the Portsmouth Road for much of its length, is a dual carriageway, or expressway, which follows the historic route between London and Portsmouth passing close to Kingston upon Thames, Guildford, Haslemere and Petersfield. For much of its length, it is classified as a trunk road...

, which is generally also known as the Portsmouth Road.

History

The A307 follows the route of the old Portsmouth Road. Since the invention of the motorway, the Portsmouth Road has been diverted away from towns and instead routed through countryside.

Robert Clive was one of the first to divert the Portsmouth Road. (He believed it ran too close to his house at Claremont

Claremont (country house)

Claremont, also known historically as 'Clermont', is an 18th-century Palladian mansion situated less than a mile south of Esher in Surrey, England...

.)

The Portsmouth Road has a great tradition and history, taken by kings such as Charles II, and by the wealthy such as Arthur Onslow, by admirals, religious leaders and writers such as Samuel Pepys. Rocque's map of Surrey (1768) shows the road (once known as the 'Portsmouth Turnpike-road') running from Kingston and close to Surbeton, through Ditton Marsh, with Thames Ditton slightly to the north, and on towards Esher. Commons, and farms with access tracks, lay on both sides of the road.

The road and surrounding commons were notoriously dangerous—there was the serious risk of both footpads (i.e., unmounted robbers) and highwaymen. Tom Waters, Jerry Abershawe

Jerry Abershawe

Louis Jeremiah Abershawe , better known as Jerry Abershawe, was a notorious highwayman who terrorised travellers along the road between London and Portsmouth in the late eighteenth century.-Biography:...

, Evan Evans, William Hawke and Thomas Banks were all hanged in the 17th and 18th centuries for banditry on the Portsmouth Road.