TOLL GATES AND GATE-KEEPERS.
As this book is devoted in great measure to the mail services of old
time--which had to be carried on entirely by horse and rider or
driver--allusion may fittingly be made to the toll gate system, which
played its part in connection with mail vehicular transport.
Toll bars originated, it seems, so far back as the year 1267. They were
at first placed on the outskirts of cities and market towns, and
afterwards extended to the country generally. The tolls for coaches and
postchaises on a long journey were rather heavy, as the toll bars were
put up at no great distances from each other. In the year 1766, Turnpike
Trusts, taking advantage of Sabbatarian feeling, charged double rates on
Sundays, but experienced travellers sometimes journeyed on that day, and
submitted to the double impost, to gain the advantage of avoiding
highwaymen, who did not carry on their avocation on Sunday, but gave
themselves up to riot, conviviality, or repose.
[Illustration: BAGSTONE TURNPIKE GATE HOUSE.
GATE ABOLISHED ABOUT 1870.]
Coaches which carried H. Majesty's mails were exempted by Act of
Parliament from paying tolls. The exemption of mail coaches from paying
tolls, a relief provided by the Act of 25th George III., was really a
continuation of the old policy, by which the postboys of an earlier age,
riding on horseback, and carrying the mails on the pommel of the saddle,
had always been exempt from toll, and the light mail carts of a later
age were always exempted.
It was no great matter, one way or the other, with the Turnpike Trusts,
Mr. C.G. Harper tells us in "The Mail and Stage Coach," for the posts
were then few and far between, and the revenue almost nil; but the
advent of numerous mail coaches, running constantly and carrying
passengers, and yet contributing nothing to the maintenance of the
roads, soon became a very real grievance to those Trusts situated on the
route of the mails. In 1816 the various Turnpike Trusts approached
Parliament for a redress of these disabilities.
Mail coaches continued, however, to go free until the end of the system,
although from 1798 they had to pay toll in Ireland. In Scotland in 1813
an Act was passed repealing the exemption in that part of the kingdom.
Pack horses were superseded by huge wagons on the busiest roads early in
the eighteenth century. Over 5,000 Turnpike Acts for the improvement of
local roads were passed during the years 1700 and 1770. At the latter
part of this period, narrow wheels were penalised more heavily than
broad wheels.
Lewis Levy was a prominent man in the days of Turnpike Trusts, as he was
a farmer of Metropolitan turnpike tolls to the tune of half a million
pounds a year!
The history of toll bars is not wanting in romance: "Blow up for the
gate," would say the coachman to the guard, when drawing near to a
"pike" in the darkness of night. Lustily might guard blow, but it did
not always have the desired effect. "Gate, gate!" would shout coachman
and guard. Down would get guard and tootle-tootle impatiently. And out
would shuffle in his loose slippers the "pike" keeper in a dazed
condition from fatigue produced by frequent disturbances. As he opens
the gate he is soundly rated by coachman and guard, and enjoined to
leave the gate open for the next mail down, or he would have to pay a
fine of 40s. to the Postmaster General, that being the penalty for not
preserving an unobstructed way for H. Majesty's mails.
[Illustration: TURNPIKE GATE HOUSE ON CHARFIELD AND WOTTON-UNDER-EDGE
ROAD.
GATE ABOLISHED 1880.]
In the Bristol district toll bars were plentiful, and attempts were made
to erect ornate little houses which should be pleasing to the eyes of
travellers. That such attempts were not always unsuccessful, the
picturesque toll-gate houses depicted in these pages will demonstrate.
In 1804, Sarah Rennison, widow of Thomas Rennison, advertised that she
lately had the ladies' and gentlemen's cold baths, near Stokes Croft
Turnpike, effectually cleaned. "These baths are supplied with water from
a clear and ever-flowing spring, uncontaminated by anything whatever, as
it flows from a clear and limpid stream from its source to the pipes in
the baths."
This turnpike, named the Stokes Croft Gate, stood on the turnpike way
designated Horfield Road. The gate was erected across the lane leading
from the said road to Rennison's Baths.
Very soon after "Sarah's" announcement, this landmark of the old city
was doomed to disappear, and the gate was removed from the top of the
Croft to a site some four or five hundred yards further up the road,
near to the present railway arch.
An advertisement from the _Bristol Journal_, Saturday, July 14th, 1804,
ran as follows:--"To be sold, the materials of the old Turnpike House at
the top of Stoke's Croft. The purchaser to be at the expense of pulling
down and carrying the same away. Also of pitching the site of the house
by the 20th of August next. For further particulars apply to Messrs.
John and Jere Osborne."
[Illustration: OLD TURNPIKE HOUSE ON THE WICKWAR ROAD.]
The tolls for the year ended the 29th September, 1823, realised the sum
of £1,800. The notice respecting the letting of the tolls for the
succeeding year, based on such takings, was signed by Osborne and Ward
on the 14th of October, 1823:
The following is a toll gate announcement, issued on July 13, 1826:--
"Notice is hereby given that the Tolls arising at the Toll Gates
hereinafter particularly mentioned will be severally Let by Auction, to
the best Bidders at the White Hart Inn, Brislington, on Wednesday, the
16th day of August next, between the hours of Eleven o'clock in the
forenoon and One o'clock in the afternoon, in the manner directed by the
Acts passed in the third and fourth years of the reign of his Majesty
King George the Fourth, 'for regulating Turnpike Roads'; which Tolls
produced last year the several Sums, and will be Let in the several
Parcels or Lots following--viz.:--
"Lot I.--The Tolls arising from the Arno's Vale Gate, on the
Brislington Road. £2,405.
"Lot II.--The Tolls arising at the Knowle Gate, on the Whitchurch
Road. £660.
"Lot III.--The Tolls arising at the Saltford Gate, on the
Brislington Road. £2,355.
"Lot IV.--The Tolls arising at the Whitchurch Gate, on the
Whitchurch Road. £670.
"And will be put up at those Sums respectively.
"Whoever happens to be the best Bidder must, at the same time, pay
one Month in advance (if required) of the Rent at which such Tolls
may be respectively Let, and give security, with sufficient sureties
to the satisfaction of the Trustees of the said Turnpike Roads, for
payment of the rest of the money monthly.
"OSBORNE and WARD,
"Clerks to the Trustees of the said
Turnpike Roads.
"Bristol, 13th July, 1826."
A turnpike ticket of 1840 was worded thus:--
Bristol Roads.
LAWFORD's GATE.
July 8, 1840
s. d.
Waggon | |
Cart 1 | |
Coach, Chaise, &c. | |
Gig | |
Horses 2 | | 9
Cattle | |
Sheep, Pigs | |
Asses | |
Clears Gates on the other side
[Illustration: OLD TOLL-BAR HOUSE, NEAR THE RIDGE, WOTTON-UNDER-EDGE.]
[Illustration: [_From an old Talbot-type Photograph in the possession of
Miss P.A. Fry, of Tower House, Cotham._
ST. MICHAEL'S HILL TURNPIKE, BRISTOL.]
The other Bristol "Gates" were known as Clifton, Redland, White Ladies,
Horfield, St. Michael's Hill, Cutler's Mills, Gallows Acre, Barrow's
Lane, Stapleton Bridge, Pack Horse Lane, Fire-Engine Lane, George's
Lane, West Street, Cherry Garden, Fire-Engine, Blackbirds, one full toll
in each case.
Thomas Brooks was the last toll-keeper at St. Michael's Hill, Bristol.
He held the office until it was abolished in 1867. In the following year
he was appointed sub-postmaster of Cotham, and removed from the old Toll
House to a house nearer the city. The Toll House stood at the corner of
Hampton Road and Cotham Hill, where the fountain is now.
Benjamin Gray, the last keeper of the "Stop Gate" which stood near the
Royal Oak Inn at Horfield, held the office for 30 years. The gate was to
stop travellers entering the city by way of Ashley Down Road, and thus
escape paying the tolls at the Zetland Road end of Gloucester Road.
There is a family connection between the Gray and the Brooks families,
and the daughter of Benjamin now resides with Samuel Brooks, the old
sexton of Horfield Church. A model of the Horfield Stop Gate may be seen
at Robin Hood's Retreat near Berkeley Road, Bristol.
The last barrier on the great London to Bristol Road was removed when
the bridge crossing the Thames at Maidenhead was freed from toll at
midnight, on November 30th, 1903. There was a remarkable demonstration
on the occasion. Five hundred people waded through the flooded streets
to see the toll-gate removed from the bridge which was erected so far
back as in 1772.
Precisely at twelve by the toll-house clock Corporation employés
proceeded to remove the gate, amid loud cheering. Many of the crowd
closed in, and finally seizing the huge gate, carried it to the top of
Maidenhead Bridge and threw it into the river.
[Illustration: STANTON DREW TURNPIKE GATE HOUSE.]