As part of the ring road and a feeder route to the A40 (and hence the M40 motorway) (to the west) and the A5 and M1 motorway (to the north) much of the traffic leaving central London for the Midlands and the North of England travels on this road. It is frequently heavily congested.
History
The road was effectively London's first bypass. Construction of the New Road, as it was called, began in 1756 along the northern edge of the built-up area.[1] In 1857, the road's name was changed from New Road, with sections, west to east, renamed Marylebone Road, Euston Road[2] and Pentonville Road.
The name Marylebone originates from a church, called "St Mary Le Bon", that was built on the bank of a small stream or "bourne" called the tybourne, in an area named after the stream Tyburn. The church and the surrounding area later became known as St Mary at the bourne, which over time became shortened to its present form Marylebone. The current St Marylebone Parish Church is on the south of Marylebone Road, opposite the Royal Academy of Music and at the top of Marylebone High Street.
The crossroads of Marylebone Road and Baker Street was historically known as Marylebone Circus, which is still its unofficial name.[3]
