Turnpike Roads in England & Wales

 

 

Welcome! This website is a hub for information on the historic turnpike roads of England and Wales.

Here you will also find something of the travellers who used these roads and records of turnpike features that have survived and can still be observed by the curious explorer.

Updating of historic tollhouse lists for all English and Wesh Counties

 

This site has page clusters dedicated to;

·        the history of Turnpike Roads and their routes (tables listed below)

·        Tollhouses that were built at turnpike gates to collect tolls from road users (tables listed below),

·        Milestones that informed travellers of the distance to the next town, and

·        Road Users who benefited from the improved highway.

·        River Crossings – ferries and bridges

 

Also features that preceded the turnpikes, particularly

·        Wayside Crosses that were beside the old highways.

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The site hosts research-based publications by leading historians of British roads. Click on the name for the link

 

·        A definitive study by Dr Keith Lawrence on the Turnpike Roads around Nantwich, Cheshire can be accessed by clicking this link.

·        Information on related turnpike trustees and on Tollkeepers nationally is accessed by the Keith Lawrence Data page.

 

·        Devon Tollhouses; A Gazetteer” by Dr John Kanefsky; a comprehensive list of Devon’s surviving toll houses and some mis-assigned tollhouses, with historic notes; published April 2021.

 

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Below is a list of summary tables, maps and information pages accessible on this site

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1. Tables and maps relating to turnpikes

these use old (pre 1974) county boundaries

 

a)    List of Turnpike Trusts in England & Turnpike Trusts in Wales and the equivalent modern road

b)    List of Toll Bridges & ferries (19th cent)

c)     Town Improvement and Paving Commissions

d)  Tollhouse and Turnpike Data for English Counties

Turnpike gates & Tollhouses by county *

Maps of Turnpike Roads by county

supplemented by

Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire

FG Emmison (1936);

Berkshire

Berkshire

 

Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire

 

Cambridgeshire/Huntingdonshire,

Cambridgeshire/Huntingdonshire

 

Cheshire

Cheshire

 

Cornwall,

Cornwall

 

Derbyshire

Derbyshire,

 

Cumberland

Cumberland

 

Devon

Devon,

 

Dorset,

Dorset

report by R Good

Durham

Durham

 

Essex

Essex

P. Taylor (2010)

Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire

map by Gloucs RO

Hampshire

Hampshire

D Viner (1969);

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire,

 

Herefordshire

Herefordshire

H Hurley (1992)

Kent

Kent

 

Leicestershire/Rutland,

Leicestershire/Rutland

A Cossons (2003)

Lancashire

Lancashire

 

Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire

S Benntt (1993)

Middlesex

Middlesex

 

Norfolk

Norfolk

P. Taylor (2009

Northamptonshire,

Northamptonshire

A Cossons (1946)

Northumberland

Northumberland

 

Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire

A Cossons (1994)

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

 

Shropshire

Shropshire

 

Somerset

Somerset

JB Bentley & BJ Murless (1985)

Staffordshire

Staffordshire

report by J. Higgins (2008)

Suffolk

Suffolk

P. Taylor (2009).

Surrey

Surrey

 

Sussex

Sussex

B Austin (2005-8)

Warwickshire

Warwickshire

A Cossons (1946);

Westmoreland

Westmoreland

 

Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Victorian History of Wiltshire, (1959)

Worcestershire

Worcestershire

Scaplehorn & Swann ((2008)

Yorkshire East Riding

Yorkshire East Riding

Macmahon (1964)

Yorkshire North Riding

Yorkshire North Riding

 

Yorkshire West Riding

Yorkshire West Riding

 

*There was not necessarily a tollhouse at each gate – side, check and chain gates in particular may have had no residential accommodation beside them.

 

e)  Tollhouse and Turnpike Data for Welsh Counties

The data on Welsh tollgates has been reviewed and augmented by information in a dedicated database created by Chris Woodard. Thanks to Chris for sharing this.

 

Turnpike gates by area

Maps of Turnpike Roads by area

North Welsh tollhouses

NW Wales (Anglesey, Caernarfon)

 

NE Wales (Denbigh, Flint)

Mid Welsh tollhouses

Mid Wales N (Merioneth & Montgomery)

 

Mid Wales S (Radnor, Brecon Cardigan)

South Welsh tollhouses

SW Wales (Pembroke, Carmarthen)

 

S Wales (Glamorgan, Monmouth)

 

Monmouth alone

 

 

 

f)      Detailed maps of turnpike roads/tollhouse sites in specific areas

·          Bristol and Bath, Exeter, Ilchester, Plymouth, Sherborne, Sidmouth, Taunton, Teignmouth (with tollhouses)

·         Areas of Staffordshire roads; Birmingham, The Staffordshire Potteries, Cheadle, The Black Country (W of Birmingham)

·         Areas of Lancashire roads; W of Manchester, E of Manchester, Burnley/Rochdale, Bury/Bolton, Blackburn/Haslingden, Preston/Wigan.

·         Areas of West Riding of Yorkshire roads; Barnsley, Bradford, Doncaster, Halifax/Elland, Holmfirth, Huddersfield/Brighouse, Keighley/Skipton, Leeds, Pontefract, Saddleworth, Sheffield/Rotherham, Wakefield, York.

 

g)    Details of surviving tollhouses, displayed on Google Earth,

These can be downloaded from the Milestone Society database http://www.msocrepository.co.uk/.

 

h)  Material relating to specific turnpike trusts

Cornwall Roads

Devon Roads

Somerset Roads

Dorset Roads

Bodmin

Bodmin and Roche

Callington

Haleworthy, Camelford, Wadebridge and St Columb

Creed and St Just

Hayle Bridge Causeway

Helston

Launceston

Liskeard

Penryn and Redruth

Penzance to St Just

Saltash

St Austell and Lostwithiel

Trebarwith Sands Road

Truro

 

Ashburton

Barnstaple

Bideford

Braunton

Combe Martin

Combe Martin and Ilfracombe

Countess Wear Bridge

Cullompton

Dartmoor and Roborough

Dartmouth, Torquay and Shaldon

Devon and Dorset (Axminster)

Exeter

Exmouth

Great Torrington

Honiton

Honiton and Ilminster

Honiton and Sidmouth

Kingsbridge and Dartmouth

Lyme Regis (Charmouth to Whimple)

Lyme Regis (Crewkerne Branch)

Modbury

Moretonhampstead

Newton Bushell

Okehampton

Plymouth and Tavistock  (New Road)

Plymouth, Eastern

Sidmouth to Cullompton

South Molton

Stonehouse

Tavistock

Tedburn St Mary to Chudleigh

Teignmouth and Dawlish

Tiverton

Totnes and Bridgetown-Pomeroy

 

Trusts based in other counties

Launceston

Saltash

Wiveliscombe

 

Bath

Black Dog (Bath and Warminster)

Bridgwater

Bruton

Chard

Crewkerne

Frome

High Ham and Ashcott

Ilchester

Ilminster

Langport, Somerton and Castle Cary

Martock and South Petherton

Minehead Roads

Radstock

Shepton Mallet

Taunton

Wedmore

Wells

Wells and Highbridge

West Harptry

Weston-super-Mare and Worle

Wincanton

Wiveliscombe

Yeovil

 

Trusts from Other Counties

Bristol

Sherborne

Vale of Blackmoor

Trowbridge

Honiton

Honiton and Ilminster

 

Lyme Regis (Crewkerne Div)

Sherborne

Vale of Blackmoor

 

 

2. An Index of Pages on this web site

click on the coloured links below to go directly to a page

a)     Turnpike Roads - general

Turnpikes; overview of county differences

Details of the turnpikes road in counties of; Berkshire; Cornwall, Devon; Dorset; Somerset.

b)    Turnpike Roads - Local Studies

·         The text of a booklet on the Turnpikes around Oxford

·         The text of a booklet on the Turnpikes around Banbury

·         The text of a booklet on the Turnpikes around Abingdon

·         The text of a booklet on the Turnpikes around Wantage (Besselsleigh, Faringdon, Wantage & Wallingford, Fyfield St Johns Bridge)

·         A study of Turnpike roads around Reading, Berkshire and notes on Roman Roads near Reading

·         A study of the Turnpike roads around Nantwich, Cheshire by Keith Lawrence.

 

·         Some Oxfordshire Turnpike Trustees

·         Some Cheshire Turnpike Trustees

 

c)     Tollhouses – general notes

     Tollhouse Design a review of the styles

      Devon Tollhouses; A gazetteer by John Kanefsky

 

d)    Milestones – an overview

     Non-Turnpike Milemarkers - a discussion of those markers that were erected before and after the turnpike era

 

e)    Early Way Markers – an overview

Ancient Stone Crosses in Devon - a detailed assessment of the stone crosses that survive in Devon, including Dartmoor

·        List of Ancient Stone Crosses surviving in Cornwall and Devon and elsewhere

·        A distribution map of Wayside Crosses in Devon

 

f)      Road Users. - the traffic on the turnpikes

London Carriers and Inns – historic records

 

g)      River Crossings Ferries and bridges over English rivers

 

tollhouse AlanPhotographs are stored on Flickr, not on this website. Go to the Tollhouses page and follow the click-links.

Pictures of wayside crosses, milestones and road structure are sets off the main photostream; http://www.flickr.com/photos/tollhouses/

 

If you have any questions or more information about particular turnpikes or tollhouses,

please contact me at rosevear1@aol.com.

 

This page created Jan 11th 2008 by Alan Rosevear (Tollhouse Alan)

Last revised 29st March 2023

 

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