Administrative history:
Highway maintenance before the era of turnpike roads
The common law responsibility for the maintenance of public roads in the middle ages lay with the tenants of each manor and was enforced, albeit often ineffectively, by the manor court. By the sixteenth century, with the decline of manorial courts in regard to local administrative matters, responsibility for highway maintenance began to be undertaken by parish vestries and in the middle of that century it was statutorily laid upon them by the Highways Act of 1555 (2 & 3 Phil. and Mary c. 8). In each parish a surveyor of highways was to be elected (after 1691 the surveyor was appointed by the justices of the peace) to direct the application of labour and materials for repair of the roads. The Act imposed on the more substantial householders the duty of providing two men and a cart with a team of draught-animals (oxen or horses) to haul road materials and on lesser householders the obligation of personal labour or the provision of a substitute on four days a year (increased to six days in 1563 by 5 Eliz. c. 13). This system of enforced labour, unpaid and lacking sustained direction by a competent person, was hardly adequate even for the repair of local roads and was in most cases quite incapable of maintaining major traffic routes.
Beginnings of the turnpike road system
In the seventeenth century the system of parochial maintenance of roads was brought under increasing strain, particularly in parishes through which roads of national importance ran. A Bill presented in February 1621/2 proposed to relieve the burden on parishes responsible for part of the Great North Road between Baldock in Hertfordshire and Biggleswade in Bedfordshire by imposing a graduated scale of tolls on various sorts of traffic at Edworth Hill (Toplers Hill, about three miles south of Biggleswade) for an initial period of five years. The revenue from the tolls was to be employed in repairing the road under the supervision of surveyors or overseers who were to be appointed by the Lord Chancellor and Lord Treasurer, but the form of administration was not precisely indicated. The Bill was defeated and no further proposals of this kind were brought before Parliament in the next forty years, but the idea of making travellers contribute to the repair of roads was raised on several occasions in Herfordshire during that period.
Standon and several other parishes on the Old North Road in Hertfordshire were persistently presented at Quarter Sessions for failure to keep the road in repair, despite performing double the statutory requirement of labour, and in 1646 and 1660 appeals were made for assistance. Perhaps as a result of this an Act was passed in 1663 (15 Chas. II c. 1) which authorised the justices of the peace in Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire to impose various rates of toll on traffic on the Old North Road in their respective counties for a period of eleven years. In Hertfordshire a toll-gate was erected at Wadesmill but intended toll-gates at Caxton (Cambs.) and Stilton (Hunts.) were not effectively established. In Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire the Act was virtually a dead letter and even in Hertfordshire it does not seem to have been very fully or efficiently operated. An extension of the initial term was granted to the Hertfordshire justices in 1664-5 (16 & 17 Chas. II c. 10) but for some years their powers were in abeyance until revived by an Act of 1692 (4 Wm. and Mary c. 9).
No other turnpike road was established in England until 1695 and only six such Acts were passed in the next ten years. In each of these cases the administration of the road was controlled by Quarter Sessions but most of the turnpike roads established from 1706 were placed under the authority of trustees, consisting of prominent local gentry and leading burgesses, including but not confined to justices of the peace. The supposed advantage of establishing trusts rather than vesting responsibility in Quarter Sessions was that a body specially created for the task might be expected to give it greater attention and so produce more effective results. Within a few years this form of administration was adopted for all new turnpike roads and in many cases roads which had previously been under the control of Quarter Sessions were transferred to turnpike trusts (such was the case in Hertfordshire with the Wadesmill Turnpike in 1733).
Turnpike Acts
The Acts establishing turnpike trusts tended to follow a similar pattern but were by no means uniform in content and there were frequent anomalies in the powers granted to different trusts. Necessarily common features were the appointment of the original trustees, the property qualification required of additional trustees, power to erect gates on the turnpike road and across roads leading into it, the rates of toll to be charged, the power to raise loans on security of the tolls, the right to a share of statute labour and to obtain materials, and the power of compulsory purchase of land for road improvements. Some Acts specified the location of toll-gates, either the positions in which they were to be established or the places between which they were not to be set up, granted certain local exemptions from toll or allocated the proportions of expenditure in repair of particular stretches of road.
The Acts were always temporary, usually for a period of twenty-one years from the date of passing, but in early eighteenth century Acts the exact date of commencement is not always clearly expressed (the date of royal assent is not recorded on printed Acts until 1793). Until towards the end of the eighteenth century the term and powers of trusts were often extended well in advance of the expiration of the existing term and the extension was added to the existing term rather than being calculated from the passing of the extending Act. From the 1790s it was more usual for the existing term and often also the powers to be repealed and the trust reconstituted on a new footing. Standing orders of the Houses of Parliament and the operation of committees on renewal Bills ensured greater uniformity in the powers granted to turnpike trusts and the Acts became filled out with standard clauses.
Acts relating to the turnpike roads in Hertfordshire are listed at the end of the introductions to the records of each trust. It should be noted that several of the early Acts are now cited by session and chapter numbers differing from those formerly in use, and the former numbers are indicated here in square brackets. Some early Turnpike Acts were categorised as private measures, which are numbered separately from public Acts, but for most of the eighteenth century they were included with the general statutes, which are cited in arabic numerals. From 1798 a distinction was made between public general Acts and public local (and personal) Acts. Acts establishing or continuing turnpike trusts were included in the latter category and are now properly cited in roman numerals, though this practice did not become standard for some time and other forms of numeration may be found in the Acts themselves. Unless otherwise indicated, the Acts of each trust are to be found among its records but public general Acts to which reference is made are to be found in the volumes of statutes.
Operation of turnpike trusts
The purpose of turnpike trusts was to maintain the roads under their authority in a serviceable condition, principally out of the revenue derived from tolls on those who used the road. The collection of tolls could be undertaken either by gate-keepers directly employed by the trust or by those appointed by persons to whom the tolls might be leased. The leasing of tolls supposedly had the advantage of providing the trust with a regular and assured income and economy in management. Leasing was quite common in the eighteenth century and was increasingly favoured in the nineteenth, especially after the procedure was regulated by the General Turnpike Act of 1822 (3 Geo. IV c. 126). In periods when this method was adopted the accounts record only the monthly rents received from the lessees and not the sums actually taken at toll-gates, but when trusts employed their own collectors there are often detailed accounts of the tolls taken at each gate, sometimes classified according to the various kinds of traffic.
Tolls were not the only resources available to turnpike trusts. In order to obtain capital for road improvements, trusts were empowered to raise loans by mortgaging the anticipated income from tolls, paying interest on the advances. Holders of mortgages could sell or assign them to others and the changes of ownership were often endorsed on the mortgage deeds as well as being recorded in registers which trusts were required to keep. Mortgagees had the right to take possession of the toll-gates and administer the revenue themselves if their interest was not paid, but this right appears to have been asserted only once in regard to Hertfordshire trusts.
Trusts were entitled to a share of the statute labour which parishes were obliged to perform on the highways or to composition payments in lieu of labour. When statute labour was abolished by the Highways Act of 1835 (5 & 6 Wm. IV c. 50) it was provided that trusts could receive a portion of the parish highway rate if tolls were insufficient for maintenance of the road. Both before and after this Act, allocation of parish responsibility between turnpike roads and other highways was made by the justices of the peace. Trusts also had the right to take gravel and flints from private (as well as common) land, paying compensation to the owner and occupier for damage and disturbance. In case of dispute, the matter was to be settled by the justices. By the early nineteenth century, rather than attempt to enforce these rights, many trusts preferred to rent or purchase gravel pits and it became common for them to enter into contracts for the supply of road materials. In addition to the statute labour performed on the road, maintenance was carried out by labourers directly employed by the trust under its own surveyor or, less frequently, was contracted out to individuals or even to parishes at a specified rate per mile.
In order to widen or divert the road, turnpike trusts had powers of compulsory purchase of land within certain limits and, if the owner objected to the terms offered, the trust could apply to the sheriff for the empanelment of a jury to assess the value of the property required. Improvements which would involve the demolition of buildings or which would constitute a substantially new route usually required the special sanction of an Act of Parliament, either exclusively concerned with that subject or part of a normal continuation Act. The land for new pieces of road was legally conveyed to the trustees and superseded portions were usually sold to the owners of the adjacent lands. Land for toll-houses was also purchased and, when no longer required, sold in the same manner. Until 1866 redundant toll-houses could not be sold standing but had to be demolished and the materials and site sold separately.
Regulation of turnpike trusts
General Turnpike Acts applicable to all turnpike roads were introduced in the middle of the eighteenth century, at first to enable trusts to control heavy vehicles which damaged road surfaces but later in order to bring about greater uniformity in the administration of trusts. The first major attempt to consolidate the laws relating to turnpike roads was the General Turnpike Act of 1772-3 (13 Geo. III c. 84) which was complementary to the Highways Act of the same session (c. 78) and remained the basis of turnpike legislation for half a century. An Act of 1822 (3 Geo. IV c. 126) carried the process of regulation further by requiring trusts to conform to certain procedures and methods of accounting. The hitherto frequent combination of the offices of clerk and treasurer was prohibited and all financial transactions were to be properly audited. Each trust was to prepare an annual abstract or general statement of accounts and to deposit a copy with the Clerk of the Peace for the county in which the major part of the road was situated. The method of presenting accounts was modified in 1833 (by 3 & 4 Wm. IV c. 80) and a copy of the annual statement was required to be sent also to the Home Office so that the returns from all trusts could be collated and published in an annual series of Parliamentary papers. The extant records of the Clerk of the Peace include incomplete series of annual statements under these Acts and in most cases there are more extensive series in the records of the trusts.
Several Parliamentary investigations into the operation of turnpike trusts resulted in the occasional production of other returns, drafts or copies of which may sometimes be found in trust records. A return in 1820 (under 1 Geo. IV c. 95) as to the length of road, number and qualification of trustees and financial state of trusts, was to be made through Clerks of the Peace, but the copies which ought to have been preserved in the records of the county and the Liberty of St. Alban are not extant. In 1839 a return was required (under 2 & 3 Vict. c. 40) to be made direct to the Home Office concerning the length of turnpike road in each parish, the extent to which the road was repaired by the trust or parishes, the state of trusts' mortgage debts, and how far trusts had been affected by the development of railways or the abolition of statute labour. Returns of 1865 and 1866, besides stating the extent of road in each parish and the amount of highway rate, required trusts to ascertain whether the parishes were in favour of the abolition of trusts. Until the mid-1860s, most turnpike trusts at the end of their term were prolonged from year to year by Annual Turnpike Acts Continuance Acts, but during the next decade extension was granted more selectively and trusts were gradually phased out. In Hertfordshire this process began in 1867 and was completed by 1877. Responsibility for former turnpike roads passed, in rural areas, to the parishes or district Highway Boards (formed in Hertfordshire in 1868), and in urban areas, to Local Boards of Health.
CHESHUNT TURNPIKE TRUST
TP1 [n.d.]
Archival history:
The extant records of the Cheshunt Turnpike include a complete series of minute-books, but financial books and papers are rather sparse. There is, however, an extensive accumulation of papers relating to most other aspects of the Trust's administration in the nineteenth century. The successive custodians of these records, as clerks of the Trust, were Bostock Toller junior of Hertford (1725-1761), William Windus of Hertford (1761-1777), William King of Ware (1777-1810), John Green of Ware (1810-1832), and Thomas Sworder of Hertford (1832-1873). On the termination of the Trust its records remained with Sworder and his successors in the firm of Messrs. Longmore until 1947, except for the latest of the minute-books (TP1/6) which was handed over to the County Surveyor in 1913 and transferred in 1929 to the County Strong Room. The Cheshunt Trust records included a few papers of the Watton and Galley Corner Turnpikes, to which Sworder and his partner Philip Longmore were respectively clerks, and these have been removed to TP8 and TP10.
Creator(s):
Cheshunt Turnpike Trust, Hertfordshire
Supplementary information:
County Record Office: "Acts of Parliament affecting Highways in and near Hertford" (compiled for Clerk of Peace, 1904)
Administrative history:
The Cheshunt Turnpike Trust was established by 11 Geo. I c. 11 from May 1725 to administer the roads from the boundary between Enfield and Cheshunt through Hoddesdon to the east end of Hertford, and from Hoddesdon to the Great Bridge at Ware, with power also to contribute to the repair of the road from the north end of the town of Ware as far as Wadesmill bridge. In 1733 the whole of the road through Ware to Wadesmill was placed fully under the Trust's authority, together with the road from Waltham Cross to the Essex boundary at the bridge over the Small Lee, and in 1772 a further extension was made by the inclusion of the road from the east end of Hertford to Amwell End near Ware, but this section was given up in 1833. At its greatest extent the Cheshunt Turnpike comprised about nineteen miles, of which about twelve formed part of the Old North Road. The Trust's powers as a road authority ceased on 1 November 1872 and the responsibility for maintaining the former turnpike road passed to the Hertford District Highway Board and the Cheshunt Local Board of Health, but the Trust was allowed to remain in being until 8 March 1873 in order to settle its accounts.
The Trust's first toll-gate was erected in 1725 on the north side of Marsh Lane (now Trinity Lane) in the parish of Cheshunt. A second gate was set up in 1726 across Waltham Lane (Eleanor Cross Road) at the back of the Four Swans Inn, but was almost immediately moved to the main road north of the Anchor Inn. A weighing-engine was built in 1751-2 at the Marsh Lane gate but was moved in 1761 to the southern boundary of the parish, and the gate near the Anchor Inn appears to have been transferred to the same site. In 1806 a gate was erected across the north end of Cheshunt Street (High Street) but in 1810 this was moved to the boundary between Cheshunt and Wormley and the Marsh Lane gate was re-located in Waltham Lane (near the site occupied subsequently by the approach to Waltham Cross railway station). The gate at the Cheshunt-Wormley border was transferred in 1833 to the north end of Hoddesdon near the Duke William Inn, with a side-gate across Duke Street, and was moved once again in 1841 to Spitalbrook in Broxbourne. A fourth gate was set up in 1844 across the main road at the south end of Poles Lane, Ware. In the same year both the gates in the parish of Cheshunt were re-sited near the Eleanor Cross, across the main road and the end of Waltham Lane, but were separated after only three months, one being placed on the south side of the New Inn near the county boundary and the other returning almost to the site of the original toll-gate, the south side of Theobalds Lane. These positions appear to have been retained without significant alteration until the abolition of the Trust.
Cheshunt Turnpike Trust Acts (See "Acts of Parliament affecting Highways in and near Hertford" (compiled for clerk of peace, 1904)
1724/5 11 Geo. I c. 11 For repairing roads from the parish of Enfield to the town of Hertford and to the Great Bridge at Ware for 21 years from May 1725 [to expire 1746].
1733 6 Geo. II c. 15 Added roads from Ware to Wadesmill and from Waltham Cross to Small Lee bridge and extended term for 7 years [to 1753].
1753 26 Geo. II c. 56 Extended term for 21 years [to 1774].
1772 12 Geo. III c. 84 Added road from "The World's End" at Hertford to Amwell End near Ware and extended term for 26 years [to 1800]. [typed copy]
1799 39 Geo. III c. xix Amended powers and extended term for 21 years from May 1799.
1813 53 Geo. III c. xxvii Amended powers and extended term for 21 years from April 1813.
1833 3 & 4 Wm. IV c. xlii Repealed preceding Acts and enacted new provisions excluding road from Hertford to Ware for 31 years from June 1833.
From 1864 the Trust was prolonged by Annual Turnpike Acts Continuance Acts until its termination was fixed at 1 November 1872 by 35 & 36 Vict. c. 85 (1872).
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP1/1 1725-1759
Contents:
Not signed, but attested by clerk from June 1753; indexed
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP1/2 1759-1779
Contents:
Attested by clerk; indexed
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP1/3 1779-1796
Contents:
Attested by clerk; indexed
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP1/4 1797-1825
Contents:
Attested by clerk until March 1823, thereafter signed by chairman; indexed; includes annual general statements of account from 1822
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP1/5 1825-1863
Contents:
Signed by chairman; indexed to 1837; includes annual general statement of account and, from 1834, annual estimates of expenditure
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP1/6 1863-1873
Contents:
Signed by chairman; includes annual general statements of account and annual estimates of expenditure
Draft Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP1/7 1835-1837
Contents:
Signed by chairman
General Orders of Trustees, 1728-1815
TP1/8 c. 1815
Contents:
Extracts from Minutes, copied into booklet
Cheshunt Road Acts, 53 Geo. III, c. xxvii (1813), 3 & 4 Wm. IV, c. xlii (1833), and Bill (1833)
TP1/9 1813; 1833
Contents:
Also 1858 reprint of 1833 Act
Trustees' Qualification Oath Book
TP1/10 1823-1832
Journal Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP1/11 1811-1817
Contents:
Approximately quarterly audit signed by trustees; at rear, lists of creditors 1811, 1815, 1816
Journal Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP1/12 1830-1872
Contents:
Occasional audit signed by chairman; balances at two-monthly intervals; folio references until December 1838 to TP1/14
Treasurer's Day-Book
TP1/13 1826-1839
Contents:
Rough journal accounts from which TP1/12 was derived
Ledger Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP1/14 1830-1838
Contents:
"Dissected Account Book" with sections for income from tolls, interest payments to mortgagees, surveyor's account for labour, and account with "tradesmen" which includes all other items of expenditure
Surveyor's Day-Book
TP1/15 1868-1870
Clerk's bills for professional charges and incidental expenses
TP1/16 1811-1872
Contents:
Series not complete; formed from loose papers and destroyed bundles of vouchers; includes highly detailed accounts for services in connection with Acts of Parliament and litigation
Annual Estimates of Expenditure
TP1/17 1840-1871
Contents:
Draft and signed versions on printed forms; lacking 1845-1852, 1863-1870
Annual General Statements of Account
TP1/18 1840-1864; 1872
Contents:
Draft and signed versions on printed forms; lacking 1841, 1844-1852, 1858, 1860, 1862
Annual General Statements of Account
TP1/19 1842-1871
Contents:
Printed copies with notice of annual meeting; lacking 1843-1851, 1855, 1857, 1859, 1861, 1865, 1867-1869
Papers relating to levying composition money from parishes instead of statute labour; with copies of highway rating lists from several parishes
TP1/20 c. 1816-1820
Contents:
Original Bundle
Opinions of counsel on cases concerning tolls, right to dig gravel, means of conveying copyhold land, and liability for repair of footpaths
TP1/21 1810-1835
Contents:
Original Bundle
Notices on various matters, mostly relating to tolls
TP1/22 c. 1813-1836
Contents:
Original Bundle
Notices and other papers relating to special meetings of trustees to consider altering the position of toll-gates
TP1/23 1837-1843
Correspondence relating to toll-gate at Waltham Cross
TP1/24 1844
Contents:
Original Bundle
Petition from inhabitants of Ware against toll-gate "lately erected" at Poles Lane
TP1/25 [? 1844]
Conditions of letting tolls, and posters advertising auctions of toll leases
TP1/26 1857-1868
Correspondence with lessees of tolls relating to effect of cattle plague on their revenues
TP1/27 1867
Correspondence with lessees of tolls relating to deduction of income tax from toll rents
TP1/28 1869
Uncompleted Lease of Tolls
TP1/29 1871
Title deeds of copyhold messuage in Middle Row, Ware, manor of Ware Infra
TP1/30 1690-1779
Contents:
Original Bundle
Copy of Trustees' title to copyhold messuage in Middle Row, Ware; with extracts from minutes concerning the purchase, and sketch plans of the situation of the property
TP1/31 c. 1825
Contents:
The minutes and abstract refer to 1777-1779 but are on paper watermarked 1825
Original Bundle
Conveyances to Trustees of various properties for road improvements
TP1/32 1778-1835
Contents:
Middle Row, Ware, 1778; Market Place, Hoddesdon, 1782; part of the poor's estate Thundridge 1824 (with abstract of title from 1799 and other papers); Great Amwell 1829; Cheshunt 1829; Broxbourne 1835
Original Bundle
Draft enfranchisements of copyhold land in Wormley and Great Amwell
TP1/33 1817; 1829
Contents:
Original Bundle
Draft releases of land in Wormley, Great Amwell, and Cheshunt
TP1/34 1817; 1829
Contents:
Original Bundle
Correspondence and minutes concerning the conveyance of land in Cheshunt; with abstract of settlement made in 1801 on marriage of Rev. Charles Mayo and Miss Louisa Landon
TP1/35 1828-1830
Contents:
Original Bundle
Correspondence, opinion of counsel, abstract of title and draft conveyances of copyhold land in Broxbourne, manor of Baas
TP1/36 1832-1835
Contents:
Original Bundle
Conveyance of land in Broxbourne
TP1/37 1850
Copy conveyance of land in Great Amwell from Turnpike Trustees to New River Company; with correspondence enclosed
TP1/38 1853
Contents:
Original Bundle
Correspondence concerning buildings on land of Joseph Chuck in Baldock Street, Ware
TP1/39 1854-1856
Contents:
Original bundle removed from TP1/40
Original Bundle
Abstracts of title (1853-1860), correspondence, and drafts of conveyance to Trustees from representatives of Joseph Chuck, deceased, of land in Baldock Street, Ware
TP1/40 1859-1860
Contents:
See note to TP1/39
Reports of committees relating to various proposed works
TP1/41 1814-1834
Contents:
Original Bundle
Orders and notices issued by Trustees, mostly relating to the obtaining of gravel
TP1/42 1815-1834
Contents:
Original Bundle
Plans of gravel pits and proposed drainage and road improvement schemes, including Baldock Street, Ware [1818], High Street, Ware [1821], and Wadesmill 1824
TP1/43 1815-1832
Minute and account book and vouchers for expenditure in lowering Balls Hill, Hertford
TP1/44 1816-1817
Contents:
Original Bundle
Minutes, reports and correspondence relating to road improvement at Wormley
TP1/45 1817
Estimates and specifications for various works: including drainage scheme at Ware 1817, new bridge and sewer at Wadesmill 1824-5
TP1/46 1817-1833
Contents:
Original Bundle
Agreements for drainage works at Broxbourne 1823, Cheshunt 1825-6, and purchases of land at Ware 1833, Wormley 1836
TP1/47 1823-1836
Tenders and proposals for works at Wadesmill and Broxbourne
TP1/48 1825-1826
Contents:
Original Bundle
Correspondence concerning damage to property of Trinity College Cambridge resulting from works at Galley Hill, Ware
TP1/49 1825-1826
Correspondence concerning gravel digging at Waltham Cross on land of Bethlehem Hospital
TP1/50 1831-1832
Contents:
Original Bundle
Correspondence and plans concerning effects of diversion in 1818 of watercourse as part of works in Baldock Street, Ware
TP1/51 1834-1835
Contents:
Original Bundle
Draft agreements for supplying road materials and watering the road
TP1/52 1837
Correspondence and agreement with Northern and Eastern Railway Company concerning maintenance of the road and bridge over railway at Waltham Lane, Cheshunt
TP1/53 1839
Correspondence concerning the condition of the road and footpaths
TP1/54 1839-1872
Correspondence relating to Trust's opposition to Northern and Eastern Railway Company's Bill
TP1/55 1844
Contents:
Original Bundle
Statutory notices and correspondence relating to railway, telegraph, water and sewerage works affecting the road
TP1/56 1850-1870
Tenders for purchase of road sand
TP1/57 1859
Contents:
Original Bundle
Correspondence concerning watering the road in Cheshunt by Local Board of Health
TP1/58 1860-1863
Correspondence and papers concerning encroachments on the road at Wormley
TP1/59 1860-1863
Correspondence concerning gravel digging at Pepper Hill, Great Amwell
TP1/60 1862-1863
Correspondence concerning gravel digging at East Field, Cheshunt
TP1/61 1866-1872
Correspondence and papers concerning Trust's right to take gravel from Turnford Marsh, including transcript of judgement in case of Fordham v. Sworder as to whether the land was common
TP1/62 1867-1869
Correspondence and papers concerning disputed election of Thomas Sworder to clerkship
TP1/63 1832-1834
Home Office circulars concerning returns from the Trust, with copy replies, and provisions of Annual Turnpike Acts Continuance Acts
TP1/64 1865-1871
Notices, rough minutes of special meetings, and other papers concerning attempts to prolong the Trust's existence
TP1/65 1865-1873
Correspondence with Parliamentary Agents concerning opposition to abolition of the Trust
TP1/66 1865-1866
Replies by parishes to questionnaire on continuance of the Trust
TP1/67 1866
Notices issued by Cheshunt Mutual Information and Co-operation Society concerning a parish poll on continuance of the Trust
TP1/68 1866
Papers relating to obtaining statutory provision for compensation to officers of discontinued Turnpike Trusts
TP1/69 1866-1867
Correspondence with Parliamentary Agents concerning petition against abolition of the Trust
TP1/70 1869-1870
Correspondence with Hertford Highway Board and petition of Cheshunt Local Board of Health concerning abolition of the Trust
TP1/71 1870-1871
Correspondence with Local Government Board concerning termination of the Trust
TP1/72 1872-1873
General correspondence
TP1/73 1817-1837
Contents:
Original bundle 1820-1837, additions 1817
General correspondence
TP1/74 1838-1873 and n.d
Miscellaneous papers
TP1/75 1811-1872 and n.d
Contents:
Including list of mortgage debts and repayments (1763-1817), printed standing orders (1819), inventories of Trust's books and papers (1833, c. 1837, 1870), tracts on road maintenance (1850-5), various accounts, and printed notices
Parliamentary Bills and Acts relating to Turnpike Roads and Highways generally
TP1/76 1835-1871
Contents:
Turnpike Trusts Consolidation Bill 1835; Highways Bill 1857; Metropolis Roads Act 1863; Turnpike Acts Continuance Acts 1865, 1866; Turnpike Trusts Abolition Bills 1866, 1867; Turnpike Acts Continuance Bills 1866, 1868, 1869, 1871
Samples of vouchers for disbursements by treasurer, clerk and surveyor
TP1/77 1826-1867
Appraisal information:
Receipts and cheques have been destroyed
Contents:
Some of treasurer's and clerk's vouchers are for items individually entered in TP1/12-14, those of surveyor are not included in these account books but are numbered in accordance with weekly accounts which are not extant; bills from sixteen original bundles have been sampled, clerk's bills have been included in TP1/16
Vouchers TP1/77/1 1826-1827
Vouchers TP1/77/2 1827-1828
Vouchers TP1/77/3 1832-1833
Vouchers TP1/77/4 1833 (Sept.-Dec.)
Vouchers TP1/77/5 1834
Vouchers TP1/77/6 1835
Vouchers TP1/77/7 1836
Vouchers TP1/77/8 1837
Vouchers TP1/77/9 1838
Vouchers TP1/77/10 1843
Vouchers TP1/77/11 1844
Vouchers TP1/77/12 1845
Vouchers TP1/77/13 1846
Vouchers TP1/77/14 1847
Vouchers TP1/77/15 1859
Vouchers TP1/77/16 1867
DUNSTABLE and PONDYARDS TURNPIKE TRUST
TP2 [n.d.]
Archival history:
The moribund state of the Dunstable Trust in the last thirty or forty years of its existence is perhaps the principal cause of the paucity of its records. In 1838 a decision was taken to destroy bills and vouchers "and all other useless papers" of more than twenty years standing. It is not known what records were included in this category, but such an attitude, displayed before the Trust entered its decline, is likely to have intensified as the Trust's functions became more circumscribed. Probably only the most current records were passed on when the clerkship changed hands in 1870. A few papers survived among the St. Albans Trust records as two of the Dunstable Trust's clerks, John Samuel Story (from at least 1817 to 1851) and James Annesley Dorant (1851-1870), were also clerks to that body. Wherever possible these documents (TP2/3, 5-9) have been restored to the Dunstable Trust, but a few which relate to both Trusts remain in the St. Albans records. The personal link between the Trusts was broken in 1870 on the election of Edward William Beal to the Dunstable office and his rival Isaac Newton Edwards to the clerkship of the St. Albans Turnpike. Beal remained in practice as a solicitor in St. Albans for some years after the termination of the Dunstable Trust, and his business was continued into the present century by members of his family, but the other extant records of the Trust (TP2/1, 2, 4, 10) came to Hertfordshire Record Office indirectly, by way of Middlesex Record Office, in 1950-1 (Accessions 314 and 325).
Creator(s):
Dunstable and Pondyards Turnpike Trust, Hertfordshire
Administrative history:
The Trust which assumed this name in 1821 was originally known as the Dunstable and Shafford House Turnpike and was established by 9 Geo. I c. 11 from June 1723 to administer eleven and a half miles of Watling Street from the Black Bull Inn on the north side of Dunstable to the lane leading up to Shafford House (Shafford Farm) near the boundary between the parishes of Redbourn and St. Michael. Though the southern limit was redefined as the Pondyards by an Act of 1821 the consequent change of title did not represent any significant alteration in the area for which the Trust was responsible. By the founding Act and its continuations until 1786 the trustees of the Dunstable Turnpike and those of the St. Albans Turnpike, which controlled the road through St. Michael's and onwards to South Mimms, were given mutual rights in respect of either road, and even after the ending of this formal relationship there continued to be close connections between the two Trusts until they were abolished. The Dunstable Trust's powers as a road authority ceased on 1 November 1877, but it remained in being until 8 December of that year to wind up its affairs. The repair of those parts of the road which lay in Hertfordshire (which at that time included the parish of Kensworth and part of Caddington) became the responsibility of the Highway Boards of the St. Albans and Hemel Hempstead Districts, while the Bedfordshire section passed to the Luton District Highway Board.
The extant records of the Dunstable Trust are very few and there is little available evidence of its history before 1835. Until the early nineteenth century the Trust appears to have had only one toll-gate, recorded on maps from 1765 as opposite what is now called Turnpike Farm, two miles south-east of Dunstable cross-roads. In the decade preceding 1835 this gate was moved one and a quarter miles further from the town to the Packhorse Inn, where there appears to have been since at least 1821 a side-gate on the road to Kensworth Lynch. The gate across the main road was moved again in 1839-40 to the vicinity of the Half Moon Inn, near what was then the county boundary, about half a mile south of the centre of Dunstable, and remained there until the abolition of the Trust. Evidence as to side-gates is scanty, but in 1847 one was erected across Rose Lane leading from Redbourn to Luton. From 1838 to 1861 there was also a gate on the main road at Fly's Wash (now Friar's Wash), but the tolls taken there were paid to the Commissioners of Woods and Forests to meet the cost of a new road constructed in 1836-8 to avoid River Hill near Flamstead.
This work had been recommended by Thomas Telford in 1825 as part of a co-ordinated improvement of the Holyhead Road, the reports relating to which provide valuable information on the Trust's administration. (Many of these reports are available in the St. Albans Trust records or in the search-room) In 1836 Parliament sanctioned the improvement and authorised the issue of £3,000 in Exchequer Bills, increased by £2,000 in 1840. The Trust took no direct part in the construction of the road but was obliged to bear the cost of it out of the revenue from tolls at the gate established for that purpose at Fly's Wash in 1838. This burden in respect of the new road coincided with the opening of the London and Birmingham Railway which had a drastic effect on the Trust's income. Eventually the Government recognised the Trust's inability to pay back the principal and interest, and in 1861 the remaining debt of £4,436 was cancelled and the Fly's Wash gate was thereupon removed. Tolls continued to be taken at the Dunstable gate, but from 1844 they were insufficient to keep the road in repair and the cost of maintaining it had to be borne by the adjacent parishes. In effect the Trust ceased to fulfil the function for which it had been created, and henceforth existed solely for the purpose of repaying loans previously advanced on the security of the tolls. Even this proved to be beyond its means. In order to facilitate repayment of the principal, the interest was reduced in 1867 to a nominal figure, but despite this relief a debt of £3,950 remained outstanding at the termination of the Trust.
Dunstable Turnpike Trust Acts
1723 9 Geo. I c. 11 For repairing the road from the Black Bull Inn, Dunstable, to the way turning up to Shafford House for 21 years from June 1723 [to expire 1744] (See H388.1) county library reference
1737 10 Geo. II c. 24 Continued preceding Act for 21 years [to 1765] and also enlarged powers of St. Albans Trust. (County Record Office Search Room)
1763 3 Geo. III c. 27 Extended term for 21 years [to 1786]. [no copy available]
1786 26 Geo. III c. 130 Repealed preceding Acts and established term of 21 years from 1786. [no copy available]
1801 41 Geo. III c. xcix Repealed 1786 Act and established term of 21 years from 1801. [no copy available]
1821 1 & 2 Geo. IV c. cvii Repealed 1801 Act and established Trust as Dunstable and Pondyards Turnpike for 21 years from June 1821.
From 1842 the Trust was prolonged by Annual Turnpike Acts Continuance Acts until its termination was fixed at 1 November 1877 by 35 & 36 Vict. c. 85 (1872).
Other Acts relating to Dunstable Turnpike Trust
1836 6 & 7 Wm. IV c. 35 Holyhead Road Act: authorised issue of £3,000 in Exchequer Bills for new road.
1840 3 & 4 Vict. c. 104 Holyhead Road Act: authorised issue of further £2,000.
1861 24 & 25 Vict. c. 28 Holyhead Road Relief Act: extinguished debt of £4,436.
1868 31 & 32 Vict. c. 66 Turnpike Trusts Arrangement Act: confirmed provisional order reducing interest on mortgage debt to one penny per cent from June 1867.
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP2/1 1835-1877
Contents:
Signed by chairman, except final meeting
Draft Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP2/2 1850-1877
Contents:
Usually signed by chairman until 1870; does not include every meeting
Dunstable and Pondyards Road Act, 1 & 2 Geo. IV. c. cvii
TP2/3 1821
Road Maintenance Account Book
TP2/4 1844-1849
Contents:
Sums due from parishes for labour and materials, showing road length in each; "General Account" of parish contributions and expenditure on road maintenance April 1844 - July 1849 (ff. 3-8, and unnumbered folios at end); separate accounts for each parish April 1844 - September 1848 (Dunstable ff. 9-11, 34-37; Humbershoe hamlet ff. 12-14, 38-41; Caddington ff. 15-17, 42-45; Kensworth ff. 18-20, 46-49; Flamstead ff. 21-23, 50-unnumbered; Harpenden ff. 24-26, 53-unnumbered; Redbourn ff. 27-33)
Printed circulars relating to road maintenance
TP2/5 1836-1842
Statutory notices from Hemel Hempstead and London and North Western Railway of proposed works affecting the road at Redbourn
TP2/6 1864-1865
Annual General Statement of Account
TP2/7 1867
Notices of special meeting for election of a clerk
TP2/8 1870
Contents:
One signed manuscript notice and several printed copies
Letter from I.N. Edwards applying for clerkship of the Trust
TP2/9 1870
Claim on behalf of holders of securities to participate in distribution of the Trust's assets at its termination
TP2/10 1877
HOCKERILL (ESSEX and HERTFORDSHIRE) TURNPIKE TRUST
TP3 [n.d.]
Archival history:
During the first thirty years of the Trust's existence its clerk was Philip Martin, who served jointly with his partner Peter Calvert from 1744 to about 1758 and subsequently alone until his resignation in 1774. Thereafter the Trust was served in this office for a total of ninety-six years by three generations of the Mott family, solicitors of Much Hadham (who were also clerks to the Wadesmill Trust from 1792): Thomas Mott 1774-1827, Thomas Samuel Mott 1827-1852, and Thomas Mott 1852-1870. After the Trust's termination its records remained with Messrs. Mott, Gayton and Mott, and their sucessors Gayton and Hare, until 1909 when they were acquired by the County Surveyor. The books and papers were transferred to the County Strong Room in 1929, but the maps (TP3/33-36) were retained by the Highways Department until 1956 (part of Accession 673). A direct deposit made by Messrs. Hare and Sons in 1947 (formerly nos. 65900-66054, part of Accession 127) has been included in the present list (TP3/5). The minutes (complete from 1744) and accounts (from 1793), and much of the nineteenth century correspondence and papers, were extensively used in the composition of F.H. Maud's book The Hockerill Highway (Colchester 1957), which gives a succinct account of the history of this Trust.
Creator(s):
Hockerill Turnpike Trust, Hertfordshire
Administrative history:
The Trust formally entitled the Essex and Hertfordshire Turnpike but commonly called after the hamlet of Hockerill (on the east side of Bishop's Stortford) was established by 17 Geo. II c. 9 from May 1744 to administer about twenty-eight miles of road from Harlow Bush Common (the southern boundary of the parish of Harlow) to Stump Cross, in the parish of Great Chesterford, the boundary between Essex and Cambridgeshire. At South Mill, three-quarters of a mile south of the centre of Bishop's Stortford, the turnpike road divided into two branches, one through the town by way of Southmill Road, South Street, Potter Street, North Street, Rye Street, Hazelend Road and Gipsy Lane to cross the River Stort near Palmers Water, while the other crossed the river at South Mill and proceeded through Hockerill and northwards to join the first branch at Palmers Water. An Act of 1791 enabled the Trust to construct a new road linking these branches one mile north of the centre of Bishop's Stortford and to abandon responsibility for the old road on the western side of the river northward from that point to Palmers Water. This reduced the length of the Trust's road by threequarters of a mile, but the loss was more than made up as a result of an Act of 1829 which authorised the construction of two new branches of road at Newport and Harlow, of which the latter, from Harlow Mill to the George Inn, was by far the more important. These increased the Trust's mileage to twenty-eight and a half, of which four miles was accounted for by branch roads, but under the Act maintenance of part of the road in Bishop's Stortford was made the responsibility of the parish. Other diversions and improvements which did not require the sanction of Parliament were also undertaken, notably the construction of South Road, Bishop's Stortford, in 1834. The Trust successfully resisted an attempt made in 1852 to consolidate it with other turnpike roads in Essex, and retained its separate identity until 1 November 1870 when its powers were terminated. The Trust held one further meeting on 13 December 1870 at which its assets were distributed among the several parishes in Essex, the Hadham District Highway Board (for Sawbridgeworth and Thorley) and the Bishop's Stortford Local Board of Health, which assumed responsibility for the former turnpike road in their respective areas.
There were two toll-gates established in 1744, one at Spellbrook (a hamlet in the north of the parish of Sawbridgeworth) by the blacksmith's shop near the Greyhound Inn (with a side-gate for a short time in 1745 across Hallingbury Lane, taken down when the main gate was moved to the other side of the brook), the other at the Chequer Inn in the parish of Ugley (Essex), replaced in the following year by a double gate across either branch of the road at Palmers Water. Both of these gates had its own treasurer responsible for supervising the collection of tolls and the payment of maintenance and other expenses on his section of the road. Another treasurer was appointed in 1767 when a third toll-gate was established between the Crown Inn and the mill at Great Chesterford (Essex), and the system of having more than one treasurer continued until 1825 (the number had been reduced to two in 1823). As a result of the building of the new road north of Bishop's Stortford the double gate at Palmers Water was replaced in 1791 by a side-gate across the old road there while a main gate was established half a mile to the south, on the north side of a lane (now only a footpath) leading to the parsonage at Birchanger (Essex). In 1792 the Chesterford gate was transferred to half a mile north of Quendon, near the lane leading to Elsenham and Henham (Essex), and in 1801 a weighing-engine was placed there. The trustees had ordered the construction of a weighing-engine at Palmers Water in 1752 but the contractor had failed to complete the project and it was abandoned. Use of the Quendon weighing-engine was suspended in 1827 and on each subsequent occasion when the tolls were leased.
In 1841 Spellbrook gate was transferred a mile and a quarter northwards to the north end of Thorley Street but was moved again the following year to Hockerill, on the north side of the road to Little Hallingbury (Essex). This was part of a general re-organisation of the toll-gates, in which the Birchanger gate was moved a little further north, to the south side of Sion House, with a side-gate across Birchanger Lane, followed shortly by another across the road to Forest Hall and Burton End (Essex); the side-gate at Palmers Water was discontinued and a new side-gate erected across the south end of Manuden Lane (Hazelend Road, by the Red White and Blue public house) in Bishop's Stortford; a gate called South Mill gate was placed across the main road between South Street and South Road, Bishop's Stortford; a side-gate was set up near the Green Man Inn at Harlow across the road to Hatfield Heath (Essex); and a gate was established on the main road at the north end of the hamlet of Potter Street in Harlow. Three months after these six gates had been ordered another was established north of Bordeaux Farm in the parish of Littlebury (Essex) near the lane to Little Chesterford, on which a side-gate was placed in 1843. Tolls were to be paid at the first and third gates passed by the traveller on the main road, tolls paid at the side-gates counting as paid at the nearest main gate. The system was simplified somewhat in 1845 when all the side-gates and the main gates except Littlebury and Quendon were abolished, Birchanger gate was restored to its former position and a gate established once more at Spellbrook, toll being payable at alternate gates. Early in 1846 a side-gate was restored at Palmers Water and in 1861 a gate was again erected across the turnpike road at the north end of Potter Street, Harlow, near Izzards Farm. No further alterations were made in the number of gates before the termination of the Trust in 1870.
Hockerill Turnpike Trust Acts
1744 17 Geo. II c. 9 For repairing road from Harlow Bush Common to Stump Cross in parish of Great Chesterford for 21 years from May 1744 [to expire 1765].
An extension of the term for 5 years was applicable to the Trust under a General Turnpike Act of 28 Geo. II c. 17 (1755).
1769 9 Geo. III c. 51 Extended term for 21 years [to 1791].
1791 31 Geo. III c. 99 Enabled Trust to construct new road from opposite Common Down, Bishop's Stortford, to branch road between Hockerill and Palmers Water; and extended term for 21 years [to 1812].
1809 49 Geo. III c. x1v Amended powers and established term of 21 years from April 1809.
1829 10 Geo. IV c. xxi Repealed preceding Acts and enacted new powers for 31 years from April 1829; established sinking fund; enabled Trust to construct new roads from Harlow Mill to George Inn at Harlow and from toll-bridge at Newport to 39th milestone.
From 1860 the Trust was prolonged by Annual Turnpike Acts Continuance Acts until its termination was fixed at 1 November 1870 by 33 & 34 Vict. c. 73 (1870)
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP3/1 1744-1785
Contents:
Not signed; indexed
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP3/2 1785-1822
Contents:
Not signed, but attested by clerk from 1791; indexed
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP3/3 1823-1844
Contents:
Signed by chairman; includes annual general statements of account, and from 1834 annual estimates of expenditure
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP3/4 1844-1870
Contents:
Signed by chairman; includes annual general statements of account and annual estimates of expenditure
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP3/5 1795-1822
Contents:
Complete series of original minutes signed by trustees
Chronological list of decisions taken at meetings of Trustees 1744-1822
TP3/6 1822
Hockerill Road Acts
TP3/7 1744-1829
Contents:
17 Geo. II, c. 9; 9 Geo. III, c. 51; 31 Geo. III, c. 99; 49 Geo. III, c. x1v all in booklet, printed 1816; 10 Geo. IV, c. xxi
List of Trustees
TP3/8 c. 1825-1863
Trustees' Qualification Oath Book
TP3/9 1823-1829
Trustees' Qualification Oath File
TP3/10 1829-1836
Contents:
Oaths on printed forms, stitched into parchment cover
Analysed Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP3/11 1793-1822
Contents:
Summarised quarterly accounts analysed into various categories of expenditure; entries for each of three treasurers holding office simultaneously, responsible for different sections of the road
Journal Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP3/12 1823-1870
Contents:
Separate quarterly accounts of two treasurers until April 1825, thereafter journal accounts of a single treasurer
Summaries of income from tolls at various periods from February 1848 to April 1849, and April 1853 to June 1854
TP3/13 1848-1854
Weekly returns of tolls, June - July 1853 and January - June 1854
TP3/14 1853-1854
Contents:
Printed forms with weekly totals from gates at Potter Street, Spellbrook, Birchanger, Quendon, and Littlebury; no entries made for Palmers Water side-gate
Weekly returns of tolls, July - August 1865
TP3/15 1865
Contents:
Weekly totals entered on printed forms as TP3/14, and also printed forms for each gate with entries of daily takings; no returns from Palmers Water side-gate
Original Bundle
General Surveyor's Accounts of Receipts and Expenditure
TP3/16 1822-1870
Contents:
Unaudited quarterly accounts to December 1823, thereafter annual audit signed by chairman; expenditure account does not specify items but refers by number to weekly account books which are not extant prior to 1870
Surveyor's Weekly Expenditure Account Book
TP3/17 1870
Contents:
Printed form showing expenditure analysed "pursuant to Act of 3 & 4 Wm. IV, c. 80"
Register of Mortgages of Tolls
TP3/18 1829-1861
Contents:
Copies of nine mortgage deeds 1829-1853, with note of discharges 1837-1853, and copies of two deeds of assignment 1853 and 1861
Miscellaneous papers relating to finances
TP3/19 1848-1860
Contents:
Including draft annual general statements of account, estimates of expenditure, abstracts of treasurer's and surveyor's accounts, clerk's bills for professional charges and incidental expenses
Leases of Tolls
TP3/20 1849-1866
Informations, warrants and summonses for recovery of toll rents from lessees
TP3/21 1847-1855
Contents:
Several documents of 1847-1849 have been re-used as drafts for actions in 1855
Original Bundle
Opinions of counsel on liability to maintain Great Chesterford bridge (1825, printed), legality of order to erect tollgates (1842), and taking toll from same vehicle more than once a day (1853), with copy of Hockerill Road Act 10 Geo. IV, c. xxi (1829) for counsel's reference
TP3/22 1825-1853
Sketch plans of points at which the road would be affected by proposed railway
TP3/23 [? 1836]
Contents:
Apparently the London to Cambridge line proposed by Northern and Eastern Railway in 1836, but not completed until 1845
Correspondence relating to Northern and Eastern Railway Bill (1836-7) and liability of Eastern Counties Railway for embankment at South Mill, Hockerill (1848)
TP3/24 1836-1848
Contents:
Original Bundle
Statutory notice and correspondence relating to proposed crossing of the road at Wendens Ambo by Colne Valley and Halstead Extension Railway
TP3/25 1858-1859
Specification, tenders and contract for rebuilding bridge at Spellbrook, with County Surveyor's report on completion
TP3/26 1863
Contents:
Original Bundle
Acts 3 & 4 Wm. IV, c. 80, and 2 & 3 Vict., c. 40, requiring returns from Turnpike Roads
TP3/27 1833;1839
Draft returns to Parliamentary orders
TP3/28 1848-1850
Road Office and Home Office circulars relating to reduction of interest on turnpike debts
TP3/29 1851-1854
Essex Turnpike Road Bill
TP3/30 1852
Contents:
To amalgamate Hockerill Turnpike into proposed Essex County Roads Commission, and petition of Hockerill Road Trustees against the measure
Replies by parishes to questionnaire on continuance of the Trust
TP3/31 1866
Miscellaneous papers
TP3/32 1839-1869
Maps of Hockerill Road by William Buckland of Eastwick
TP3/33-36 1828
Related information:
(For Further plans, 1825-1829, see D/EH/P33-35)
Contents:
Showing toll-gates, inns and other buildings, milestones, parish boundaries, and land use
Harlow Bush Common to Thorley Street
TP3/33 1828
Thorley Street to Orford House
TP3/34 1828
Broom Wood, Ugley, to Wendens Ambo
TP3/35 1828
Wendens Ambo to Stump Cross, Great Chesterford
TP3/36 1828
SPARROWS HERNE TURNPIKE TRUST
TP4 [n.d.]
Archival history:
The offices of clerk and treasurer of the Trust were held in combination by William Hayton junior, of Stocks House, Aldbury (formerly of Ivinghoe, Buckinghamshire) from 1762 to 1806 when he resigned and in the following year was appointed a trustee. Both offices were held by Harry Grover, a solicitor of Hemel Hempstead, from 1806 to the end of 1822 when duality of office was made illegal. He resigned the treasurership in 1822 and the clerkship in 1826, being replaced in the latter office by William Smith and Charles Ehret Grover, solicitors of Hemel Hempstead, as joint clerks. On Smith's bankruptcy in 1856 Grover was appointed sole clerk, assisted in much of the Trust's business by his partner William Stocken and son Walter Grover in later years. After the termination of the Trust its records continued in the possession of Messrs. Grover and Son, later (Walter) Grover and (Lovel) Smeathman. The practice continued in this century under the name Messrs. Lovel Smeathman and Son, by whom the Trust records were deposited (as part of Accession 867) in 1960. The whole period of the Trust's existence is covered by the extant minutes and accounts, and most other classes of record are well represented for the first half of the nineteenth century. A list of the records was compiled shortly after their acquisition but some re-arrangement and re-numbering of the material in bundles has been made in the course of compiling the present list.
Creator(s):
Sparrows Herne Turnpike Trust, Hertfordshire
Administrative history:
The Sparrows Herne Turnpike Trust was established by 2 Geo. III c. 63 from July 1762 to administer a little over twenty-six miles of road from the south end of Sparrows Herne on Bushey Heath (up to which point the road from London had been controlled by the Kilburn Bridge Turnpike Trust since 1711), through Watford, Berkhamsted and Tring to Walton (where the road connected with the Wendover and Buckingham Turnpike) less than a mile from Aylesbury. An Act of 1823 enabled the Trust to avoid Walton by making a new road into Aylesbury (completed in 1826) and to carry out other diversions at Hunton Bridge (Abbots Langley) and Nascott Farm (Watford), which made the route more direct but did not appreciably alter the length of road under the Trust's authority. By an Act of 1845 responsibility for the maintenance of about two miles of road in Watford was transferred to the parish and subsequently assumed by the Local Board of Health. The powers of the Trust in respect of tolls and road maintenance ceased on 1 November 1873, but the trustees continued to meet until 23 March 1874 for the settlement of accounts. Responsibility for maintenance of the former turnpike road in Hertfordshire was then divided between the Highway Boards of the Watford and Hemel Hempstead Districts, except for parts within the areas of the Watford and Tring Local Boards of Health, and in Buckinghamshire control passed to the several parishes and the Aylesbury Local Board of Health.
From 1762 until 1860 the Trust had four toll-gates on the turnpike road, to several of which side-gates were annexed at various times. The main gates were respectively :- (1) "Watford gate", at the bottom of Chalk Hill between the bridge over the River Colne and the lane leading to Hamper Mill (Eastbury Road), subsequently with side-gates across both that and the lane leading to Oxhey (Pinner Road), and from 1857 also across Villiers Road, Oxhey; a weighing-engine or weighbridge was built in 1815-16 on the north side of the turnpike road opposite the tollhouse, but was demolished in 1847: (2) "Ridge Lane gate", on the north side of Watford, originally half a mile south of Ridge Lane but in 1823 (as a result of the Act which authorised the straightening of the road between there and Nascott Farm, the present Hempstead Road) it was moved to the entrance of Lord Essex's Cassiobury estate, with a side-gate on Ridge Lane itself; there were also side-gates further north on roads leading to Leavesden, from 1828 across Mains Lane until it was stopped up in 1840, and across Russell Farm Lane (now Russell Lane) from 1854: (3) "New Ground gate", near New Ground Farm in the parish of Wigginton, at the junction of the turnpike road and the local road between that village and Aldbury, on which a side-gate was established in 1762; side-gates were also erected in 1833 on the east of Tring, across the Twist and Oddy Hill Lanes leading off the turnpike road between Tring Park and Pendley Beeches: (4) "Veeches gate", between Veeches Farm (now Vatches Farm) and Veeches Water, a little to the west of Aston Clinton, Bucking-hamshire; replaced in 1810 by "Weston gate", nearly two miles further west, near the lane connecting Bierton and Broughton with Weston Turville; in turn replaced in 1827, after completion of the new road, by "Aylesbury gate", about half a mile from the town centre, near (and with a side-gate across) Mill Road; another side-gate was erected across Broughton Lane in 1829, removed some time later but re-established in 1841 with its own toll-house. A fifth gate on the turnpike road was established in 1860 west of Tring, at Beggar Bush Hill (Tring Hill) in the parish of Drayton Beauchamp, Buckinghamshire, with a side-gate across Upper Icknield Way leading northwards to the hamlet of Bulbourne in the parish of Tring. All five of these main gates remained until the abolition of the tolls in 1873.
Sparrows Herne Turnpike Trust Acts
1762 2 Geo. III c. 63 For repairing road from south end of Sparrows Herne on Bushey Heath, through Watford, Berkhamsted St. Peters, and Tring, by Pettiphers Elms to turnpike road at Walton near Aylesbury, for 21 years from July 1762 [to expire 1783]. [copy available Highways E12]
1783 23 Geo. III c. 93 Extended term for 21 years [to 1804].
1803 43 Geo. III c. xxxix Amended powers and extended term for 21 years from 1803.
1823 4 Geo. IV c. lxiv Repealed preceding Acts and enabled Trust to divert road at Nascott Farm and Hunton Bridge and construct new road into Aylesbury; established term of 21 years from May 1823.
1845 8 & 9 Vict. c. ix Repealed 1823 Act and enacted new provisions for 21 years from May 1845.
From 1866 the Trust was prolonged by Annual Turnpike Acts Continuance Acts until its termination was fixed at 1 November 1873 by 36 & 37 Vict. c. 90 (1873).
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP4/1 1762-1771
Contents:
Signed by trustees
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP4/2 1772-1793
Contents:
Signed by trustees; loose at front, draft signed minutes of meeting 3 February 1772; at rear, list of trustees c. 1794
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP4/3 1793-1810
Contents:
Signed by trustees; loose at rear, lists of original trustees and replacements c. 1806, Buckinghamshire Quarter Sessions recommendation to turnpike trusts to erect weighing-machines 1808
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP4/4 1810-1823
Contents:
Signed by trustees until December 1822, thereafter signed by chairman; loose draft signed minutes of meeting 16 April 1811
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP4/5 1823-1840
Contents:
Signed by chairman; indexed
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP4/6 1840-1863
Contents:
Signed by chairman; indexed
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP4/7 1863-1874
Contents:
Signed by chairman; indexed until 1872
Draft Minute Books
TP4/8-17 1823-1874
Contents:
Signed by chairman
Draft Minute Books
TP4/8 1823-1824
Contents:
Signed by chairman
Draft Minute Books
TP4/9 1825-1827
Contents:
Signed by chairman
Draft Minute Books
TP4/10 1827-1828
Contents:
Signed by chairman
Draft Minute Books
TP4/11 1828-1831
Contents:
Signed by chairman
Draft Minute Books
TP4/12 1831-1835
Contents:
Signed by chairman
Draft Minute Books
TP4/13 1836-1840
Contents:
Signed by chairman
Draft Minute Books
TP4/14 1840-1851
Contents:
Signed by chairman
Draft Minute Books
TP4/15 1852-1863
Contents:
Signed by chairman
Draft Minute Books
TP4/16 1864-1872
Contents:
Signed by chairman
Draft Minute Books
TP4/17 1873-1874
Contents:
Signed by chairman
Various
TP4/18 1762-1819
Contents:
Papers relating to road maintenance 1762-4; petitions for appointment as toll collector 1762-1801; appointments of toll collectors 1762-1805; appointments of trustees 1764-1818; Lord Essex's licence for sale of old bridge at Watford 1771; notices relating to statute labour 1819
Original Bundle
Sparrows Herne Road Acts
TP4/19 1783-1845
Contents:
23 Geo. III c. 93; 43 Geo. III c. xxxix; 4 Geo. IV c. lxiv; 8 & 9 Vict. c. ix; with notes on cost of improvements carried out under 1823 Act, prepared in connection with 1845 Bill
Original Bundle
General Turnpike Acts 1822 and 1823, and Acts relating to other Trusts used as precedents for 1845 Sparrows Herne Act
TP4/20 1802-1845
Contents:
Thirsk to Yarm 1802; Aylesbury to Hockliffe 1810; Wendover to Buckingham 1810; Henley to Dorchester 1821; Cockermouth to Maryport 1843; Cromford to Belper 1843; Market Harborough to Coventry 1844 the last two have clauses marked for insertion in 1845 Act; duplicate copies of Sparrows Herne Acts 1823 and 1845
Correspondence with proprietors of lands required for intended diversions of the road, and with Parliamentary agents concerning promotion of a Bill for that purpose
TP4/21 1822-1823
Contents:
Original Bundle
Correspondence and papers relating to intended diversions, lists of proprietors and occupiers, plans of Hunton Bridge and Nascott Farm diversions, draft petitions and clauses for Bill
TP4/22 1822-1823
Contents:
Original Bundle
Drafts of Bill with amendments
TP4/23 [1822-1823]
Contents:
Original Bundle
Annual General Statements of Account
TP4/24 1823-1873
Contents:
Printed copies, lacking 1870 and 1871; including bundle of statements 1847-1853 with averages over preceding seven years
Original Bundle
Journal Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP4/25-31 1764-1822
Related information:
(See vouchers TP4/43-75)
Contents:
Expenditure account in journal form, followed by half-yearly statement of income showing receipts from each toll-gate; half-yearly audit signed by trustees; 25-30 are numbered on spine as volumes 2-4 and 6-8 (volumes 1 and 5 are lost); 30 and 31 are headed from April 1806 as 1st-34th accounts of Harry Grover
Journal Accounts TP4/25 1764-1768
Journal Accounts TP4/26 1768-1773
Journal Accounts
TP4/27 1773-1779
Journal Accounts TP4/28 1786-1793
Journal Accounts TP4/29 1793-1804
Journal Accounts TP4/30 1804-1814
Journal Accounts TP4/31 1814-1822
Ledger Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP4/32 1823-1865
Contents:
Annual accounts headed by treasurer's name and year of office; audit signed by chairman at annual general meeting; shows expenditure under various headings (weekly advances to surveyor, day labour, team labour, contract work, salaries, expenses) followed by annual income; from 1857 form is different, showing monthly payments by lessees of tolls or weekly receipts from each toll-gate (August 1860- May 1862), advances to surveyor to meet specified bills, and number of each entry referring to TP4/41
Ledger Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP4/33 1866-1874
Contents:
Similar form and content to latter part of TP4/32; references to TP4/41 and 42 until end of 1870
Notebooks containing surveyor's receipts for money advanced by treasurer
TP4/34-36 1807-1821Notebook TP4/34 1807-1811
Notebook TP4/35 1811-1817
Notebook TP4/36 1817-1821
Notebook containing accounts of overseer of tolls
TP4/37 1821-1822
Contents:
Showing weekly receipts from Chalk Hill and Ridge Lane gates, wages of collectors, and amounts paid into bank
Treasurer's rough journal account books
TP4/38-42 1823-1874
Contents:
Credit side shows voucher number of each item of expenditure from 1823; debit side shows income from tolls (weekly for gates in hand, monthly for those under lease), each entry being serially numbered from 1835
1844-1856 Not extant
Account Book TP4/38 1823-1828
Account Book TP4/39 1828-1834
Account Book TP4/40 1835-1844
Account Book TP4/41 1857-1866
Account Book TP4/42 1867-1874
Vouchers for disbursements by Harry Grover as treasurer, and his bills as clerk
TP4/43-75 1806-1822
Contents:
Half-yearly bundles numbered as 1st-34th accounts (see TP4/30 and 31); 24th account (November 1817 - March 1818) not extant
Original Bundle
Miscellaneous accounts of tolls
TP4/76 1762-1806
Contents:
This volume has been used for several purposes at various times: 1762-1764 for weekly receipts from tolls and payments to collectors at New Ground gate (receipts extend to 1765), Veeches gate, Chalk Hill and Ridge Lane gates (combined until November 1762); 1770-1775 for account with Thomas Clutterbuck junior (to which the cover title refers); 1780-1806 for weekly receipts and payments accounts of New Ground gate; these several accounts are interspersed, but all except the last are crossed through
Accounts of tolls collected daily at each gate
TP4/77-92 1762-1806
Contents:
Weekly and half-yearly totals, with initialled half-yearly audit from March 1777
Watford gate
TP4/77 1762-1773Contents:
Chalk Hill, combined with Ridge Lane until November 1762, thereafter Chalk Hill accounts only
Chalk Hill gate (Watford) TP4/78 1773-1787
Chalk Hill gate (Watford) TP4/79 1787-1801
Chalk Hill gate (Watford) TP4/80 1801-1805
Ridge Lane gate (Watford) TP4/81 1762-1773
Ridge Lane gate (Watford) TP4/82 1773-1787
Ridge Lane gate (Watford) TP4/83 1787-1801
Ridge Lane gate (Watford) TP4/84 1801-1805
New Ground gate (Wigginton) TP4/85 1762-1773
New Ground gate (Wigginton) TP4/86 1773-1787
New Ground gate (Wigginton) TP4/87 1787-1801
New Ground gate (Wigginton) TP4/88 1801-1806
Veeches gate (Aston Clinton) TP4/89 1762-1773
Veeches gate (Aston Clinton) TP4/90 1773-1787
Veeches gate (Aston Clinton) TP4/91 1787-1801
Veeches gate (Aston Clinton) TP4/92 1801-1806
Draft accounts of tolls collected at each gate, and tables of tolls charged by Sparrows Herne and neighbouring turnpikes
TP4/93 1821-1822 and n.d
Contents:
Original Bundle
Accounts of tolls collected at New Ground gate
TP4/94 1830-1831
Contents:
Weekly statements of amounts taken daily from various classes of traffic for eighteen weeks
Accounts of tolls collected at Aylesbury and New Ground gates
TP4/95 1840
Contents:
Weekly classified statements of daily takings for four weeks
Original Bundle
Register of Mortgages of Tolls
TP4/96 1762-1834
Contents:
Book of printed counterparts of mortgages numbered 1-104 (1762-1765), endorsed with assignments and discharges to 1834
Mortgages of Tolls
TP4/97 1762-1779
Contents:
Printed mortgage deeds from series 1-104, endorsed with assignments and discharges to 1779; list of discharged mortgages
Original Bundle
Mortgages of Tolls, deeds of assignment and discharge, lists of mortgages held and abstracts of title to them
TP4/98 1762-1855
Contents:
Includes deeds from series 1-104
Original Bundle
Mortgages of Tolls, deeds of assignment, copies of mortgages and assignments
TP4/99 1825-1873
Contents:
Mortgage deeds 1825-1826, endorsed with assignments and discharges to 1873
Original Bundle
Opinions of counsel on cases concerning collection of tolls
TP4/100 1766-1827
Opinion of counsel on case concerning evasion of tolls at Watford gate [Chalk Hill gate] by use of a way over Watford common field, with sketch plan
TP4/101 1833
Opinion of counsel on case concerning legality of decision to erect gates on Beggar Bush Hill (Drayton Beauchamp, Buckinghamshire), with plan
TP4/102 1860
Correspondence with lessee of tolls, mainly relating to failure to pay the rent
TP4/103 1818-1821
Contents:
Original Bundle
Petition for removal of toll-gate erected at end of lane leading from Bierton and Broughton to Weston Turville and Aston Clinton (Buckinghamshire)
TP4/104 n.d
Leases of Tolls of all gates; with bonds for payment of rent
TP4/105 1806-1841
Contents:
1838 Bond missing
Leases of Tolls of Watford [Chalk Hill] and Ridge Lane gates; with bonds for payment of rent
TP4/106 1805-1850
Contents:
1846 and 1848 bonds missing
Lease of Tolls of New Ground and Veeches gates; with bond for payment of rent, and warrant of attorney by lessee indemnifying his partners against his liabilities
TP4/107 1809
Leases of Tolls of New Ground and Weston gates; with bonds for payment of rent, and correspondence concerning execution of lease
TP4/108 1811-1821
Leases of Tolls of New Ground and Aylesbury gates; with bonds for payment of rent
TP4/109 1831-1851
Contents:
1848 bond missing
Drafts of leases of tolls and bonds; draft case for opinion of counsel
TP4/110 1806-1821
Contents:
Original Bundle
Bonds of toll-collectors for performance of duties
TP4/111 1762-1806
Bonds for keeping hedges and fences beside the road in repair
TP4/112 1763-1764
Contents:
Original Bundle
Contract with Edward Gray of Bushey, builder, for construction of a seven-arched brick bridge "over the water at the bottom of Watford Town" [River Colne bridge]
TP4/113 1770
Contents:
With specifications, plans and elevations annexed
Bond of John and William Goodwin of Hunton Bridge (Abbots Langley) indemnifying Trust against damage to bridge or road resulting from raising the level of the mill-stream of their water-powered corn-mill
TP4/114 1815
Title deeds and associated documents relating to conveyance of freehold premises in Market Place, Aylesbury, for extending Sparrows Herne turnpike road into the town
TP4/115 1631-1826
Contents:
Original Bundle
Conveyances to Trust of various properties in Aylesbury and at Walton near Aylesbury, for construction of a new road into the town(as authorised by 1823 Act), with abstracts of title and related documents
TP4/116-129 1812-1832Aylesbury: garden ground at rear of Crown Inn
TP4/116 1826
Contents:
Original Bundle
Walton: 1r. 24p. part of two closes formerly called Moore and Stone furlong; with plan, and abstract of 1806 conveyance
TP4/117 1826
Contents:
Original Bundle
Walton: 1a. 1r. 3p. part of Mill Field; with abstract of title from 1778
TP4/118 1826
Contents:
Original Bundle
Walton: 3r. 37p. part of Mill Field; with abstract of title from 1761
TP4/119 1826
Contents:
Original Bundle
Walton: 4r. 35p. in two plots, part of Dry Closes and Choley Meadows; with copy will 1799 and abstract of inclosure award 1800
TP4/120 1826
Contents:
Original Bundle
Walton: 31p. part of Turn furlong and Mill Field; with abstract of title from 1777
TP4/121 1826
Contents:
Original Bundle
Aylesbury: strip of land 36ft. long by average of 2½ft. wide, adjacent to dissenters' chapel; with abstract of 1830 conveyance
TP4/122 1830
Contents:
Original Bundle
Aylesbury: parts of yard, garden and buildings belonging to Crown Inn; with abstract of title from 1707
TP4/123 1826
4 docs
[Deed of release is damaged by damp]
Contents:
Original Bundle
Walton: 1826 covenant to produce deeds of land intended to be taken into road; 1825 abstract of title from 1807
TP4/124 1825-1826
Aylesbury: land near Hale Leys, bounded by bowling green of Crown Inn; with abstract of title from 1802
TP4/125 1826
4 docs
[Deeds of lease and release are badly damaged by damp and largely illegible
Aylesbury: abstract of title 1802-1824 to garden and premises formerly part of Crown Inn
TP4/126 [c. 1826]
Walton: 1812 abstract of mortgage; 1813 abstract of title from 1721 to part of freehold close (1a. 0r. 29p); 1825 abstract of title from 1774 to part of freehold close (1r. 12p.)
TP4/127 1812-1825
Contents:
Original Bundle
Aylesbury: cottage and ground near Hale Leys, adjoining bowling green of Crown Inn; with abstract of title from 1696
TP4/128 1831-1832
Contents:
Original Bundle
Conveyances connected with Aylesbury and Walton improvement
TP4/129 1826
Contents:
Too badly damaged by damp to be legible, but one has marginal plan showing intended site of toll-house
Draft conveyances of property in connection with road improvements at Aylesbury, Walton, Hunton Bridge, Watford and Bushey
TP4/130 1825-1834
Contents:
(With two relating to Reading and Hatfield Turnpike Trust, used as precedents); draft mortgages of tolls
Original Bundle
Papers relating to Aylesbury and other road improvements
TP4/131 1823-1830
Contents:
Including minutes and reports of committee on estimated costs and benefits of Aylesbury improvement, specifications and contracts for works, with plan and section
Original Bundle
Plan of proposed widening of the [old] road at Walton, showing lands to be acquired by the Trust and encroachments on the road since the inclosure of Walton Fields
TP4/132 1825
Correspondence and papers concerning sale of the former turnpike road at Walton, with plan and counsel's opinion
TP4/133 1827-1828
Contents:
Original Bundle
Correspondence and papers concerning road improvements and other works at Hunton Bridge
TP4/134 1818-1830
Contents:
Including committee reports, tenders, contracts
Original Bundle
Conveyance to Trust of property at Hunton Bridge (3a. 1r. 19p. in two plots), with abstract of will (1795) of Sir John Filmer
TP4/135 1828-1829
Contents:
Original Bundle
Correspondence mainly with the Earl of Essex concerning proposed road improvement at Nascott Farm, Watford
TP4/136 1821-1822
Contents:
Original Bundle
Plan of schedule of property required for road improvement at Nascott Farm, Watford
TP4/137 [c.1822]
Conveyance to Trust of land for new road at Nascott Farm in exchange for old road; with marginal plan showing old and new line
TP4/138 1834
Correspondence concerning proposed lowering of Chalk Hill, Watford
TP4/139 1820-1822
Contents:
Original Bundle
Correspondence, tenders, contracts and bonds relating to road improvement at Beggar Bush Hill, Buckland (Buckinghamshire)
TP4/140 1823-1825
Contents:
Original Bundle
Correspondence and papers relating to dispute between Trust and Arthur Anstey Calvert of Bushey concerning replacement of a wall as a result of road improvement works
TP4/141 1824-1830
Contents:
Original Bundle
Correspondence and papers relating to flooding of road between Watford Bridge and Watford Mill, with plan of River Colne and backstreams
TP4/142 1825-1826
Contents:
Original Bundle
Conveyance to Trust of ground in front of Watford Mill for improvement of the road, with marginal plan; abstract of title from 1766, undertaking to maintain fencing
TP4/143 1829
Contents:
Original Bundle
Summonses for failure to cut hedges bordering the road
TP4/144 1807-1815
Contents:
Original Bundle
Notices to quit gardens bordering the road at Walton, Aylesbury
TP4/145 1814
Contents:
Original Bundle
Draft contracts for works on road and bridges, fencing, supply of materials; abstracts of leases of tolls
TP4/146 1815-1836
Contents:
Original Bundle
Tenders for works on road, bridges, fencing
TP4/147 1825
Contents:
Original Bundle
Tenders, contracts and bonds for supply of materials
TP4/148 1834-1836
Contents:
Original Bundle
Correspondence and papers concerning termination of the Trust
TP4/149 1865-1873
Contents:
Including Home Office and Local Government Board circulars with provisions of Annual Turnpike Acts Continuance Acts; correspondence with former clerk of Cheshunt Turnpike Trust concerning procedure for termination
Original Bundle
Conditions of sale and agreement for purchase of two pieces of land at Beggar Bush Hill (Buckland, Buckinghamshire)
TP4/150 1873-1874
Contents:
With copy of plan and schedule of property taken for 1824 improvement
Original Bundle
General correspondence
TP4/151 1811-1822
Contents:
Original Bundle
General correspondence
TP4/152 1823-1827
Contents:
Original Bundle
Letter book
TP4/153 1827-1851
Contents:
Handwritten copies of clerks' outgoing letters indexed
Letter book
TP4/154 1863 - 1886
Contents:
Copying-press reproductions of clerk's outgoing letters 1863-1874 and of Messrs. Grover and Son's replies to requests for information in Trust's records concerning title to lands and other matters 1878-1886
Miscellaneous papers
TP4/155 C1700-1799, c. 1811
Contents:
Including abstract of title to manor of Bushey 1574-1715, other papers concerning titles; printed forms of notice in connection with statute duty; tabular statements of surveyor's account for labour 1805-6
Notices of meetings of trustees, mainly for leasing the tolls
TP4/156 1806-1819
Miscellaneous correspondence and papers relating to leases of tolls, rates of toll
TP4/157 1806-1822
Miscellaneous correspondence and papers
TP4/158 1806-1821
Contents:
Including inventory of books and papers at change of clerkship 1806; papers relating to robbery at Weston toll-gate 1815; directions for using weighing-engine 1816; account of income and expenditure 1817-1820 and copies of returns to Clerks of the Peace for Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire under 1 Geo. IV c. 95, with the Act 1820
Miscellaneous correspondence and papers
TP4/159 1822-1826
Contents:
Including statements of income and expenditure; reports on road maintenance; resignation of clerk and appointment of replacements
Miscellaneous papers
TP4/160 1827-1873
Contents:
Including Reading and Hatfield Turnpike Trust Act 1829; draft petition and correspondence concerning London and Birmingham Railway Bill 1831-2; statutory notices from Wycombe and Oxford Railway 1853, Thame and Aylesbury Railway 1858, Colne Valley Water Company 1872; Clerical Justices Disqualification Act 1873
ST. ALBANS (PONDYARDS and BARNET) TURNPIKE TRUST
TP5 [n.d.]
Archival history:
In view of the complexity of the Trust's finances it is particularly unfortunate that no account-books are extant after 1845 (though expenditure can be studied by means of the vouchers which survive until 1848). There is also an unfortunate lack of materials for the early history of the Trust. Accounts commence in 1759 and minutes in 1760, the earlier minute-book having been destroyed in a fire at the house of William Kentish senior, the Trust's clerk and surveyor. On his death in 1778 his son William Kentish junior succeeded to both offices and held them until his dismissal for malfeasance in 1792. Thereafter the offices of clerk and surveyor were separated, the clerkship being held successively by solicitors of St. Albans: Thomas Cumber (1792-1801), Isaac Piggott (1801-1827, together with the office of treasurer 1808-1822), John Samuel Story (1828-1851, assisted from 1840 by Anthony Browne Story as joint-clerk), James Annesley Dorant (1851-1870), and Isaac Newton Edwards (1870-1873). The records of the St. Albans Turnpike Trust were acquired by the County Surveyor in 1903 from Albert Rowden, successor to Edwards' practice, and were transferred to the County Strong Room in 1929. The books and most of the papers were listed at that time without distinction from those of the St. Albans Highway Board, to which Edwards had also been clerk. Many of the bundles contained an indiscriminate mixture of material from both these bodies and also others with which Edwards had been connected. Moreover, there were papers of other trusts which had been transferred to the County Surveyor's custody, together with records from his own office. A similarly confused amalgam was encountered in the case of documents which had not been included in the 1929 list. Considerable re-arrangement has been necessary to eliminate extraneous matter and render the records intelligible, but as far as possible the original grouping of papers has been retained when miscellaneous bundles have been divided.
Creator(s):
St Albans Turnpike Trust, Hertfordshire; Pondyards and Barnet Turnpike Trust, Hertfordshire
Supplementary information:
Acts 1821-1830 are contained in TP5/59; Acts 1834 and 1861 are available in search-room.
Administrative history:
The St. Albans Turnpike Trust was established from September 1715, by an Act classified as Private Act 12 of 1 Geo. I, to administer eleven and a half miles of the road connecting London with Watling Street. The original route controlled by the Trust commenced at the south-eastern boundary of the parish of South Mimms (then in Middlesex), near Hadley Pillar on the Chipping Barnet to Hatfield road, and took a circuitous course past Kitts End and over Dancers Hill to South Mimms village, then a more direct line through London Colney into St. Albans, passing through the town by way of Old London Road, Sopwell Lane, Holywell Hill, High Street, Romeland Hill, Fishpool Street and St. Michael's Street, and then followed the line of Watling Street across the Gorhambury estate to the Pondyards at the boundary between the parishes of St. Michael and Redbourn. In 1723 the Act establishing the Dunstable Turnpike Trust, which controlled the road north-westwards from that point, gave the trustees of either road the automatic right to become trustees of the other, and this provision was confirmed by the Acts of the St. Albans Trust until 1791. For the greater part of its existence the Trust was known as the St. Albans and South Mimms Turnpike, or more simply as St. Albans Road Trust, but following a diversion of the route and a change of description in the Act of 1831 the name Pondyards and Barnet came gradually into use. An intermediate form of designation, St. Albans and Barnet, is also found in this period. The Trust's powers as a road authority ceased on 1 November 1871 and responsibility for maintenance of those parts of the road which lay in Hertfordshire passed to the St. Albans District Highway Board and St. Albans Corporation but the Trust was authorised by the Home Office and the Local Government Board to continue for further periods in order to deal with a law-suit which delayed completion of the winding-up process until 7 June 1873. It was the oldest and longest-lived turnpike trust in the county.
Several important diversions of the original route were made either by the Trust or, after 1817, by the Commissioners of the Holyhead Road. In 1794 the Trust obtained legislative sanction to build a stretch of road half a mile in length to bring London Road into St. Albans opposite High Street, thus avoiding the right-angled turns of the Sopwell Lane and Holywell Hill route. This new road, planned and constructed by George James Rose of Hertford, was completed in 1797. Ten years later the road between Ridge Hill and South Mimms was straightened and widened, but plans for lowering or avoiding Ridge Hill itself had to be postponed through lack of funds. The scheme was revived in 1817 with the support of the Holyhead Road Commissioners and the provision of finance from the Commissioners for the Issue of Exchequer Bills. An alternative route was eventually agreed and the work was carried out in 1818-1820 under the direction of Thomas Telford, chief engineer to the Holyhead Road Commission. In later improvements the Trust had little or no control over the plans or the contracts but was obliged to bear the expenses of construction and subsequent maintenance of the new roads. The route on the west side of St. Albans was superseded by the construction in 1824-6 of Verulam Road and Redbourn Road on the north side of the River Ver, with Branch Road forming a link to the western end of Fishpool Street, up to which point the old route remained under the Trust's authority. The old road across Gorhambury to the Pondyards ceased to be a public right of way and became the property of the Earl of Verulam, who made part of it the drive to his house and at the request of the trustees destroyed the section north of Gorham Block to prevent its being used to evade the tolls on the new road.
The third and most extensive construction under the auspices of the Holyhead Road Commission was a completely new road at the southern end of the Trust. A less ambitious project recommended by Telford in 1819 and authorised by Parliament in 1821 was abandoned in favour of a threemile stretch of road from the middle of South Mimms village in an almost direct line to Chipping Barnet. Work commenced shortly after the route received legislative sanction in 1826, but owing to unforeseen problems the road was not completed until 1830. Both the Ridge Hill and South Mimms to Barnet roads were kept under the Holyhead Road Commissioners' control for some time after the basic construction was complete, but their maintenance was paid for by the Trust even before they were handed over to its care. Much dissatisfaction was felt at the escalation in costs beyond the estimates, and a bitter controversy developed between Telford and the Trust's surveyor James McAdam over the methods employed in forming the road surface. Much information concerning the St. Albans Trust's section of the Holyhead Road, before and during these works, is to be found in the reports of Select Committees of the House of Commons and reports of the Commissioners (many of which are available in the records of the Trust or in the search-room).
There are no extant records for the first four and a half decades of the Trust's existence, but it is likely that the earliest recorded positions of the toll-gates had been established at the foundation of the Trust. By 1759 there were main gates in St. Albans, apparently near the junction of Old London Road and Keyfield, and at South Mimms, a little south of the church and near the lane to Ridge. Subsidiary gates are more difficult to trace. Four side-gates were erected in 1790, one across the entrance to Mile House Lane on the eastern side of St. Albans, and three at London Colney across lanes leading to Shenley, but how long they remained is uncertain. On the completion of the new London Road into St. Albans in 1797 a toll-house was erected at the junction of the old and new roads, with gates across each branch. (A contemporary illustration of this [by H.G. Oldfield] is to be found in "Hertfordshire Topography"vol. VIII p.450.) The old toll-house was sold in 1808 and the gate was moved to the corner of Sopwell Lane and Cottonmill Lane. By 1815 there was a subsidiary gate on the western side of St. Albans for the purpose of collecting tolls on droves of cattle and sheep. It was originally sited at the Pondyards but was moved in 1820 to Gorham Block, almost a mile nearer the town, and when the new route was opened in 1826 its functions were transferred to a side-gate adjacent to the Kingsbury toll-house and main gate at the junction of Branch Road and Verulam Road. The construction of the South Mimms to Barnet road resulted in the replacement of the South Mimms gate by gates across both the old and new roads at their junction near the White Hart Inn in the middle of the village. Only one further addition to the number of gates appears to have been made. In 1861 another side-gate was erected at Kingsbury on the north side of Verulam Road for traffic going to Oster Hill, Bernards Heath and Harpenden. Each of the gates in St. Albans and South Mimms remained until the ending of the tolls in 1871.
A highly complex system of accounts resulted from the terms on which the improvements under the Holyhead Road Commission were financed. For the Ridge Hill and Verulam Road schemes the Commissioners for the Issue of Exchequer Bills advanced to the Trust £6,000 and £10,000 secured by a mortgage of the tolls, initially those payable under the Trust's Act but subsequently also the extra tolls imposed for the purpose of paying the interest and principal of the loans. The first loan was paid off in eighteen instalments between 1818 and 1827 out of the income from the additional or "Parliamentary" tolls taken at each of the Trust's gates, but in the case of the second loan these tolls were imposed only at the Kingsbury main gate. "Local" tolls were also taken for the general purposes of the Trust, but the accounts had to be kept separate. From 1827 to 1829 £400 a year was paid out of the Kingsbury tolls to the Holyhead Road Commissioners for the maintenance of Verulam Road, but thereafter the entire produce (after deducting the expenses incidental to collection) was paid to the Exchequer Bill Loan Commissioners until the debt was discharged by the twelfth annual instalment in 1838.
The construction of the South Mimms to Barnet road was financed by a loan of £14,000 from the Consolidated Fund, made available to the Trust through the Holyhead Road Commissioners to whom repayments were made out of the additional tolls imposed at South Mimms gate after the Trust had retained one quarter of the income to meet the costs of maintaining the road. These payments commenced in 1831, overlapping those made to the Exchequer Bill Loan Commissioners, so that two sets of Commissioners were receiving money from the Trust on entirely different terms. From the end of 1833 the powers of the Holyhead Road Commissioners were transferred to the Commissioners of Woods and Forests (who later became the Commissioners of Works and Public Buildings). An additional £4,500 was made chargeable on the South Mimms tolls in 1834, and after the loan charged on the Kingsbury gate had been paid off in 1838 part of the burden appears to have been transferred, for thereafter payments from both these gates were made to the Commissioners of Woods and Forests though separate accounts had to be rendered for each of them. All items of expenditure connected with the management of these gates - repairs and maintenance of the toll-houses, wages of the toll-collectors or the costs incurred in leasing the tolls, and the clerk's salary for keeping the accounts - had to be examined and passed by the Commissioners. This complicated system continued until 1861 when the Government gave partial and belated recognition to the difficulties of the Trust by cancelling all but £2,250 of the debt, which was to be paid out of the general income of the Trust at the rate of £150 a year for fifteen years. Despite having a large amount of debt to private individuals, the Trust succeeded in meeting the Government's requirements ahead of schedule, making the final payment in 1871.
St. Albans Turnpike Trust Acts
1714-5 1 Geo. I, 12 (private) For repairing roads through the parishes of St. Michael, St. Alban, St. Peter, Shenley, Ridge, and South Mimms, for 21 years from September 1715 [to expire 1736]. [on copy available]
1735 8 Geo. II c.9 Declared the preceding Act to be a Public Act and extended term for 21 years [to 1757]. (See County Library reference H388.1) and material in searchroom Record Office
1737 10 Geo. II c. 24 Increased powers to prevent evasion of tolls (by a clause included in Dunstable Turnpike Trust Act). (See material in Record Office Searchroom)
1750/1 24 Geo. II c. 10 Extended term for 21 years [to 1778]. See County Library: H388.1 and material in Record Office Searchroom.
1770 10 Geo. III c. 107 Extended term for 21 years [to 1799]. [no copy available]
1791 31 Geo. III c. 108 Repealed preceding Acts and enacted new provisions for 21 years from 1791. [no copy available]
1794 34 Geo. III c. 113 Enabled Trust to construct new London Road in St. Albans. [no copy available]
1811 51 Geo. III c. clviii Repealed 1791 Act and enacted new provisions for 21 years from June 1811. [no copy available]
1831 1 & 2 Wm. IV c. lxxiv Repealed 1811 Act and enacted new provisions for 31 years from January 1832.
From 1863 the Trust was prolonged by Annual Turnpike Acts Continuance Acts until its termination was fixed at 1 November 1871 by 34 & 35 Vict. c. 115 (1871).
Holyhead Road Acts relating to the St Albans Trust
1821 1 & 2 Geo. IV c. 30 Scheduled property required for intended South Mimms - Hadley road [repealed 1823].
1823 4 Geo. IV c. 74 Scheduled property required for road from Peahen Inn, St. Albans, to Pondyards; provided £10,000 in Exchequer Bills and enacted terms for repayment from Kingsbury gate; repealed provisions of 1821 Act relating to South Mimms - Hadley road.
1825 6 Geo. IV c. 100 Provided further £4,000 for completion of St. Albans - Pondyards road; altered route and terms for maintenance of road; empowered Trust to take local tolls on droves at Kingsbury gate.
1826 7 Geo. IV c. 76 Scheduled property required for South Mimms - Barnet road; provided £14,000 from Consolidated Fund and enacted terms for repayment from South Mimms gate.
1827 7 & 8 Geo. IV c. 35 Altered terms for maintenance of new roads; allowed £1,000 to be taken from tolls to complete St. Albans - Pondyards road and £3,000 for South Mimms - Barnet road if previous funds were insufficient.
1830 1 Wm. IV c. 67 Clarified provisions relating to additional tolls on South Mimms - Barnet road; altered terms for its maintenance.
1834 4 & 5 Wm. IV c. 66 Charged £4,500 incurred in completion of South Mimms - Barnet road on tolls taken under 1826 Act.
1861 24 & 25 Vict. c. 28 Cancelled debt of £14,000 and interest due; Trust to pay £2,250 from general income, at rate of £150 for 15 years; reduced additional tolls imposed by 1823 and 1826 Acts, and allowed income from them to be used for general purposes.
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP5/1 1760-1790
Contents:
Signed by trustees; at rear, signatures of newly appointed trustees 1760-1769, and measurement of the road 1789
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP5/2 1790-1810
Contents:
Signed by trustees
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP5/3 1810-1827
Contents:
Signed by trustees until December 1822, thereafter signed by chairman
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP5/4 1828-1865
Contents:
Signed by chairman
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP5/5 1865-1873
Contents:
Signed by chairman
Draft Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP5/6 1850-1870
Contents:
Signed by chairman
St. Albans Road Act, 1 & 2 Wm. IV, c. lxxiv with list of trustees
TP5/7 1831
St. Albans Road Act, 1 & 2 Wm. IV, c. lxxiv
TP5/8 1831
Trustees' Qualification Oath or Affirmation Roll, under 51 Geo. III, c. clviii
TP5/9 1811-1826
Trustees' Qualification Oath or Affirmation Roll, under 3 Geo. IV, c. 126, 4 Geo. IV, c.95, and 51 Geo. III, c. clviii
TP5/10 1826-1829
Trustees' Qualification Oath or Affirmation Roll, under 3 Geo. IV, c. 126, 4 Geo. IV, c. 95, and 1 & 2 Wm. IV, c. lxxiv
TP5/11 1832
Trustees' Qualification Declaration Roll, under 5 Wm. IV, c. 8
TP5/12 1835
Trustees' Qualification Declaration Roll, under 5 & 6 Wm. IV, c. 62
TP5/13 1835
Journal Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP5/14 1759-1776
Contents:
Period of account is irregular, but from June 1761 is approximately quarterly, with audit signed by several trustees or from February 1775 by two only; income accounts show weekly takings at St. Albans and South Mimms toll-gates separately; at end of each period of account there is a list of mortgagees
Journal Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP5/15 1785-1822
Contents:
Approximately quarterly period of account, with audit signed by two trustees; income accounts have no detail of takings at gates as tolls were leased, and expenditure accounts have few entries for March 1789 - June 1806 as road maintenance was contracted out; each period of account has list of mortgagees until 1792, and at the end there is a list showing state of mortgage debt 1822
Journal Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP5/16 1822-1837
Contents:
Annual period of account with audit signed by chairman at annual general meeting; tolls leased throughout, but expenditure accounts are very detailed
Journal Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP5/17 1838-1845
Contents:
Annual period of account with audit signed by chairman at annual general meeting; shows weekly takings at St. Albans, South Mimms and Sopwell Lane toll-gates, July 1838 - August 1842, August - December 1845; at other periods tolls were leased
Account of transactions of Kingsbury gate with St. Albans Bank
TP5/18 1829-1842
Account with Exchequer Bill Loan Commission in respect of £6,000 loaned under Act of 57 Geo. III, c. 34 (1817) to meet the cost of road improvements
TP5/19 1818-1827
Contents:
Showing income from additional tolls imposed as security for the loan (weekly until September 1821 when tolls were leased), deductions for expense of collection, and balance paid to Bank of England on the Commission's account
Bank of England certificates of payment of eighteen half-yearly instalments in reduction of principal and interest in respect of the loan in TP5/19
TP5/20 1818-1827
Bank of England certificates and correspondence with Exchequer Bill Loan Commission relating to twelve annual payments in discharge of further loan of £10,000
TP5/21 1827-1838
Related information:
See also TP5/22
Contents:
Original Bundle
Accounts of tolls received at Kingsbury gate and payments made to Holyhead Road Commission in respect of maintenance of new stretch of road (until July 1829), and to Exchequer Bill Loan Commission in discharge of £10,000 loan
TP5/22 1827-1837
Related information:
See TP5/21
Contents:
Original Bundle
Correspondence relating to payments from tolls received at Kingsbury and South Mimms gates to Commissioners of Woods and Forests (as successors to powers of Holyhead Road Commission and Exchequer Bill Loan Commission) in respect of other loans for road improvements
TP5/23 1
Related information:
For other papers relating to these payments see treasurer's vouchers for these gates, TP5/77 and 78
General Surveyor's Accounts of Receipts and Expenditure
TP5/24 1820-1861
Contents:
Quarterly audit signed by two trustees to December 1822, then signed by chairman at annual general meeting until December 1848; expenditure account refers by number to weekly account books which are extant for most years (TP5/25-30); loose list of tools possessed by the Trust in 1861
Sub-Surveyor's Weekly Expenditure Books, classifying bills under various headings including day labour, contract labour, team labour (hauling), stones quarried or picked, surveyor's salary, incidental expenses
TP5/25-29 1822-1838
Contents:
Each week is consecutively numbered 120-1083, with double numbering June - October 1829 and March 1832 which refers to TP5/31; signed each week by sub-surveyor William Higgs and initialled occasionally by general surveyor James McAdam
Expenditure Book [ff. 120-266] TP5/25 1822-1825
Expenditure Book [ff. 267-586] TP5/26 1825-1829
Expenditure Book [ff. 587-746] TP5/27 1829-1832
Expenditure Book [ff. 747-914] TP5/28 1832-1835
Expenditure Book [ff. 915-1083] TP5/29 1835-1838
Sub-Surveyor's Weekly Expenditure Book for day labour only
TP5/30 1845-1861
Contents:
One folio for each week until August 1845 (ff. 1-10), from which point accounts for four to six weeks are given the same folio number (ff. 11-189); occasionally initialled by James McAdam, R. Kentish and others
Sub-Surveyor's Weekly Expenditure Book for road improvements June - August 1823 and March 1828 - March 1832, classifying bills under various headings including labour, hauling, gravel digging, and incidentals
TP5/31 1823-1832
Contents:
Each week is consecutively numbered 1-84, with double numbering referring to TP5/26 and 27, in which the entries in this volume appear either as a separate section or in the general account for road maintenance; the road improvements to which this volume relates were principally at London Colney
Surveyor's accounts with gravel diggers
TP5/32-35 [n.d.]
Contents:
Showing for each pit or gravel digger the number of loads or yards dug and the price paid
Accounts
TP5/32 1804-1817
Contents:
Payment recorded by the load; index at rear
Accounts
TP5/33 1818-1820
Contents:
Printed form; payment recorded by the load or the yard; not indexed
Accounts
TP5/34 1820-1826
Contents:
Printed form; payment recorded by the yard; index at front
Accounts
TP5/35 1826-1834
Contents:
Printed form; payment recorded by the yard; index at front
Annual summaries of gravel accounts
TP5/36 1819-1829
Contents:
Showing names of pit owners and diggers, number of yards and loads, price of each, cultivation of the land used, amount of compensation paid to owner or tenant for loss of crops by digging or damage in carting; folio references to TP5/33-35
Annual summaries of gravel accounts for 1829-30, 1831-2, 1832-3
TP5/37 1829-1833
Contents:
Drafts in same form as TP5/36, with note that they were to be copied up when account for 1830-1 was found
Printed reports of clerk and committee on finances of the Trust
TP5/38 1839
Annual General Statements of Accounts
TP5/39 1842-1873
Contents:
Incomplete series of printed copies: 1842, 1844, 1851, 1853-1860, 1864-1870, 1872-3
Mortgage of Tolls
TP5/40 1739
Related information:
Discharged mortgage deeds are to be found in bundles of treasurer's vouchers, TP5/75 and 76
Contents:
Endorsed partial discharge 1790
Register of Mortgages of Tolls
TP5/41 1811-1839
Contents:
Containing alphabetical index of mortgagees; copy of sections of St. Albans Road Act 1811 relating to mortgages; copies of forty mortgage deeds 1811-1831 and forty deeds of assignment 1812-1839 (of mortgages raised 1751-1831), with notes of some discharges until 1849
Draft mortgages and assignments, with correspondence and account of interest payable to mortgagees
TP5/42 1830-1832
Lists of mortgages, numbered for purpose of paying off debt by drawing lots, with draft discharges and correspondence relating to payments
TP5/43 1835-1848
Contents:
Original Bundle
Leases of Tolls at Kingsbury gate
TP5/44 1832-1843; 1860
Contents:
Including inventories of furniture and fittings of toll-house
Leases of Tolls at St. Albans and South Mimms gates
TP5/45 1843;1845; 1860
Contents:
Including inventories of furniture and fittings of toll-houses
Correspondence and accounts relating to arrears of toll rents, with memorials from lessees complaining of effects on revenues of opening of railway and Act 5 & 6 Wm. IV, c. 18 (1835) exempting manure-carts from toll
TP5/46 1838-1839
Correspondence and papers relating to letting of tolls, and effect of Holyhead Road Act 1861 on existing lease
TP5/47 1860-1861
Justices' licences to enter private property for purpose of digging gravel
TP5/48 1824-1840
Papers relating to gravel digging
TP5/49 1834-1840
Agreements for supply of gravel and flints
TP5/50 1834-1844
Agreements for fencing the road
TP5/51 1834-1835
Tenders for supply of gravel and flints
TP5/52 1862-1866
Contents:
Printed forms showing amounts required for each mile of the road
Conveyance of property in St. Albans surplus to requirements of Holyhead Road Commissioners
TP5/53 1826
Contents:
Amended and unexecuted
Papers relating to sales of land at South Mimms, Ridge Hill, and St. Albans
TP5/54 1830-1832
Contents:
Original Bundle
Opinion of counsel on case concerning the old road through St. Albans, whether Sopwell Lane toll-gate could be disposed of and whether toll could still be taken on cattle droves at Kingsbury gate; with detailed plan (by Thomas Godman and Son, St. Stephens) of old and new roads
TP5/55 1832
Plans (by A.A. Dorant, St. Albans) of "Kingsbury Pightle", St. Michaels, showing old and new roads, toll-gate, public houses
TP5/56 1840
Draft conveyance and correspondence relating to sale of land near St. Albans toll-gate
TP5/57 1858
Contents:
Original Bundle
Draft conveyances, plans, and correspondence relating to sale of sites of toll-houses and adjacent land in St. Albans and South Mimms
TP5/58 1871-1872
Acts of Parliament relating to the London to Holyhead Road
TP5/59 1815-1833
Printed papers relating to the London to Holyhead Road
TP5/60 1819-1833
Contents:
Heads of an intended Bill 1819; account of loans made 1817-1823 by Exchequer Bill Loan Commission, amounts repaid and remaining due 1829; eighth report of Holyhead Road Commission 1831; Act 3 & 4 Wm. IV, c. 43, transferring powers of Holyhead Road Commission to Commissioners of Woods and Forests 1833
Reports of Committees of the House of Commons on the Holyhead Road 1810-1822
TP5/61 1822
Contents:
For St. Albans Trust see 1817 committee 5th report, 1819 committee 6th report, 1820 committee 2nd report, 1822 committee 4th report
Report of Select Committee of the House of Commons on Holyhead and Liverpool Roads
TP5/62 1830
Contents:
For St. Albans Trust see appendices relating to expenditure
Correspondence and copy returns to enquiries of Select Committee of the House of Common 1839 and Road Office 1842-1850
TP5/63 1839-1850
Correspondence and papers relating to proposed general legislation on turnpikes
TP5/64 1847-1848
Contents:
Original Bundle
Correspondence and papers relating to Holyhead Road Relief Bill, including statements of income from tolls and amount spent on road maintenance 1853-1860
TP5/65 1860-1861
Correspondence with Home Office concerning Trust's expenditure, with related papers
TP5/66 1857-1864
Home Office circulars and provisions of Annual Turnpike Acts Continuance Acts
TP5/67 1865-1871
Correspondence with Home Office and Local Government Board concerning prolongation of the Trust's term
TP5/68 1871-1872
Correspondence and papers relating to the case of Liddington v. Edwards, in which the Trust was sued for damages in respect of a fatal accident in St. Albans, alleged to have resulted from the road being in a defective condition
TP5/69 1871-1873
Contents:
The litigation in this matter delayed the winding-up of the Trust and necessitated several extensions of its term
General correspondence
TP5/70 1846-1870
Miscellaneous papers
TP5/71 1828-1848
Miscellaneous papers
TP5/72 1851-1870
Miscellaneous papers, including draft minutes of meetings of trustees, and correspondence
TP5/73 1870-1873
"A Collection of the Acts of Parliament now in force for regulating Turnpike Roads in England"
TP5/74 1828
Contents:
Reprint of eight Acts 1822-1828 with index of subjects
Samples of treasurer's vouchers
TP5/75 1821-1845
Appraisal information:
As the accounts volumes for this period are so detailed only one packet has been retained in its entirety, while for the remainder the first and last vouchers in each series have been kept, together with bills of the clerk and those of tradesmen which provide detailed illustrations of the constituents of expenditure, and all discharged mortgage deeds
Contents:
Bills and receipts for disbursements, entered in accounts volumes TP5/15-17 under the same date as the payments were made; originally in sixty-three packets, which from October 1827 consisted of numbered vouchers with the date of audit recorded on the first voucher
No extant vouchers for July - December 1821
Entire original packet TP5/75/1 30 March 1821 - 2 July 1821
Sample of fifteen packets TP5/75/2 January 1822 - October 1832
Sample of eleven packets TP5/75/3 October 1832 - December 1835
Sample of sixteen packets TP5/75/4 January 1836 - December 1839
Sample of nine packets TP5/75/5 January 1840 - December 1842
Sample of eleven packets TP5/75/6 January 1843 - December 1845
Treasurer's vouchers for disbursements in period for which no account books are extant
TP5/76 1846-1848
Contents:
Eight original packets (whole)
Three original packets TP5/76/1 1846
Two original packets TP5/76/2 1847
Three original packets TP5/76/3 1848
Treasurer's vouchers for disbursements in connection with Kingsbury gate
TP5/77 1826-1848
Related information:
For brief entries of these disbursements 1829-42 see TP5/18
Contents:
Separately accounted for to Exchequer Bill Loan Commission until 1838 and thereafter to Commissioners of Woods and Forests; thirty-one original packets and two vouchers (whole)
Six original packets TP5/77/1 April 1826 - July 1831
Fifteen original packets TP5/77/2 July 1831 - September 1842
Ten original packets and two other vouchers TP5/77/3 October 1842 - September 1848
Treasurer's vouchers for disbursements in connection with South Mimms gate
TP5/78 1831-1842; 1848
Related information:
For payments to Commissioners 1843-1848 see TP5/23
Contents:
Separately accounted for to Holyhead Road Commission until 1833 and thereafter to Commissioners of Woods and Forests; thirteen original packets April 1831 - October 1841 and two vouchers July 1842 and August 1848 (whole)
Sample of surveyor's vouchers for expenditure on road maintenance
TP5/79 1823-1838
Appraisal information:
Taken at roughly five year intervals from an incomplete series of forty-two packets 1823-1839
Contents:
Each voucher is numbered in accordance with folios of weekly expenditure books (TP5/25-29)
Two original packets TP5/79/1 1823
One original packet TP5/79/2 1827-1828
Six original packets TP5/79/3 1833-1834
Four original packets TP5/79/4 1838
Surveyor's vouchers for expenditure entered in road improvement book (TP5/31), numbered in separate series
TP5/80 1823; 1828; 1829
Contents:
Three original packets (whole)
Bills or vouchers for payments to contractors for supplying gravel and flints
TP5/81 1840-1847
Contents:
Six original packets of unnumbered vouchers (whole)
STEVENAGE and BIGGLESWADE TURNPIKE TRUST
TP6 [n.d.]
Archival history:
Prior to 1733 the clerkship appears to have been held by Walter Nicholas Williams, but in that year the office was united with that of treasurer and held by William Sparhauke until his death in 1744. The offices remained combined under a succession of Baldock solicitors, William Humble (1744-1749), Isaac Wilkinson (1749-1781) and Isaac Hindley, until 1822 when duality of office was made illegal and Hindley chose to give up the clerkship in order to remain treasurer (until 1830). Samuel Veasey of Baldock held the clerkship, assisted as joint-clerk from 1845 by his son Thomas, from 1822 until the end of the Trust. The records stayed with the firm of Veasey, afterwards Balderston and Warrens, until their acquisition by the County Surveyor in 1909, and were transferred in 1929 to the County Strong Room together with, and to some extent intermingled with, those of several other turnpike trusts and highway boards.
Creator(s):
Stevenage and Biggleswade Turnpike Trust, Hertfordshire
Arrangement:
Many of the original bundles were entirely lacking in coherence and several included papers of the River Ivel Navigation Commission, the clerkship of which was generally held by the clerk of the Trust, and solicitors' papers relating to other business. Extensive re-arrangement has been necessary to make the records of the Trust amenable to research and wherever possible extraneous documents have been removed (but see TP6/7 where this was impracticable)
Related information:
Those records concerning the Ivel Navigation Commission being transferred to Bedfordshire Record Office.
Administrative history:
The effective limits of this Trust, established by 6 Geo. I c. 25 from June 1720 to administer about thirteen miles of the Great North Road, were the Swan Inn at the north end of Stevenage High Street and the Spread Eagle Inn on the south side of Biggleswade. The Trust's area was extended about a mile and a quarter in 1755 by the addition of two routes within the town of Biggleswade to the toll-gate of the Alconbury Turnpike Trust at the east end of the bridge over the River Ivel. In 1769 the Trust sought to take over, in conjunction with the Hitchin and Bedford Turnpike, a large part of the Icknield Way, but a separate Trust was established in that year to administer that road in two districts, from Tring to Baldock and from there to Bourn Bridge (near Pampisford, Cambridgeshire), and though the trustees of the Stevenage and Biggleswade Turnpike were individually appointed to the new body it was legally and administratively distinct. The only extension of the Trust's area which resulted from this attempt was the addition of a three-mile branch from Radwell through Stotfold to the bridge over the River Hiz in the parish of Arlesey, connecting with a branch of the Hitchin and Bedford Turnpike through Henlow to Shefford (Bedfordshire). The Arlesey branch road was retained within the area of the Trust by the Act of 1832 but was shortly afterwards abandoned, and the road within the towns of Baldock and Biggleswade also ceased to be maintained by the Trust in later years. At the termination of the Trust on 1 November 1868 the part of the road which lay in Hertfordshire came under the control of the newly formed Hitchin District Highway Board, while the Bedfordshire section became the responsibility of the Biggleswade District Highway Board.
As far back as the records extend there appear to have been toll-gates north of Rectory Lane, Stevenage, and at the New Inn where the parishes of Astwick and Stotfold (Bedfordshire) bounded those of Hinxworth and Caldecote (Hertfordshire). The Stevenage gate was moved in 1734 to the north side of Graveley, to a place known as Graveley Pinch, but after six months it was restored to its original location and remained there until the abolition of the Trust, having also at some time a side-gate across Corey's Mill Lane. Side-gates are recorded in the 1730s at several places, notably near the Cross Keys Inn at the boundary between Baldock and Bygrave, and at Holt Lane in Graveley (which remained until 1836). Others are mentioned in the 1780s across lanes leading to Hinxworth and Astwick, but there does not appear to have been regular collection there until a toll-house (known from its octagonal shape as Hinxworth Round House) was erected in 1816, prior to which the keeper of New Inn gate had to be fetched two hundred yards to open these side-gates as need arose. In 1839 the main gate was moved from New Inn to Hinxworth Round House so that one collector could attend to the traffic on the main road and both of the side roads. In 1813 a weigh-bridge was constructed at Radwell Corner, where the Arlesey branch road turned off, and remained in use until 1833, subsequently becoming the site of a toll-gate across the main road. This was set up in 1845 at which time another main road gate was erected between Biggleswade workhouse and Dunton Lane. All of these gates remained until 1868.
Stevenage and Biggleswade Turnpike Trust Acts
1720 6 Geo. I c. 25 For repairing roads from Stevenage to Biggleswade for 21 years from June 1720 [to expire 1741].
1726 12 Geo. I c. 10 For repairing roads from Lemsford Mill to Welwyn and Corey's Mill, and from Welwyn through Codicote to Hitchin; and for enlarging term of Act for repairing road from Stevenage to Biggleswade for 21 years [to 1762].
1755 28 Geo. II c. 30 Added roads in Biggleswade and extended term for 21 years [to 1783].
1769 9 Geo. III c. 64 Added road from Radwell Corner to bridge in Arlesey and extended term for 21 years [to 1804].
1778 18 Geo. III c. 82 Enabled Trust to purchase property in Baldock for widening road, and extended term for 21 years [to 1825].
1811 51 Geo. III c. lxxviii Altered restriction on number of tolls charged, increased rate of toll, and enacted term of 21 years from July 1811.
1832 2 & 3 Wm. IV c. lxxvi Repealed preceding Acts and established new powers for 31 years from June 1832.
From 1863 the Trust was prolonged by Annual Turnpike Acts Continuance Acts until its termination was fixed at 1 November 1868 by 31 & 32 Vict. c. 99 (1868).
Contents:
Apart from the absence of minutes for the first decade of its existence the records of the Stevenage and Biggleswade Trust are more than normally extensive and varied, including a considerable body of papers relating to the finances and administration of the Trust from the eighteenth century.
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP6/1 1730-1755
Contents:
Signed by trustees; at rear, list of deceased trustees and elected replacements to 1809
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP6/2 1755-1810
Contents:
Signed by trustees; at rear, copy of counsel's opinion on case concerning statute duty 1800
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP6/3 1811-1862
Contents:
Signed by trustees to January 1824, thereafter signed by chairman
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP6/4 1862-1868
Contents:
Signed by chairman
Signed draft minutes of individual meetings
TP6/5 1845-1868
Contents:
7 August 1845, 3 July 1862, 19 March 1863, 2 July 1863, 28 October 1868
Stevenage and Biggleswade Road Bills and Acts
TP6/6 1720-1832
Contents:
6 Geo. I, c. 25; 12 Geo. I, c. 10; 28 Geo. II, c. 30 (and Bill); 9 Geo. III, c. 64; 18 Geo. III, c. 82 (and Bill); 51 Geo. III, c. lxxviii; 2 & 3 Wm. IV, c. lxxvi
Lists of Trustees of Stevenage and Biggleswade Road and Commissioners of River Ivel Navigation
TP6/7 1780-c.1839
Instruments of Appointment of Trustees
TP6/8 1789-1831
Draft and copy instruments of appointment
TP6/9 1756-1831
Trustees' Qualification Oath Roll
TP6/10 1820-1832
Bonds of Treasurer for performance of office
TP6/11 1830;1854
Journal Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP6/12 1802-1809
Contents:
Audit signed by trustees
Journal Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP6/13 1809-1817
Contents:
Audit signed by trustees
Journal Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP6/14 1823-1829
Contents:
Audit signed by chairman at annual general meeting; includes annual general statements of account from 1827
Journal Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP6/15 1829-1839
Contents:
Audit and annual general statements of account signed by chairman
Journal Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP6/16 1840-1844
Contents:
Annual general statements of account signed by chairman
Journal Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP6/17 1845-1868
Contents:
Audit signed by chairman at annual general meeting, but without annual general statements of account
Accounts of Tolls received at New Inn gate (1803-1815) and Stevenage gate (1818-1821)
TP6/18 1803-1821
Contents:
Daily and weekly totals of takings by a single collector at New Inn and by a single collector at New Inn and by two collectors working alternate days at Stevenage; at rear, amounts taken in 1806 for stage-coach passengers in excess of number allowed by Act of Parliament
Accounts of Tolls received at New Inn gate
TP6/19 1811-1819
Contents:
Accounts on printed forms showing number of vehicles or animals on which toll was paid, daily takings from each class, daily and weekly totals of all classes combined
Accounts of Tolls received at Stevenage gate
TP6/20 1811-1819
Contents:
In same form as TP6/19
Accounts of Tolls received at New Inn gate
TP6/21 1821-1822
Contents:
Fortnightly classified statements of daily takings by a single collector
Original Bundle
Accounts of Tolls received at Stevenage gate
TP6/22 1821-1822
Contents:
Fortnightly classified statements of takings by two collectors on alternate days
Original Bundle
Accounts of Tolls received at New Inn and Stevenage gates (1826-1836, 1839), and Hinxworth and Stevenage gates (1840-1845)
TP6/23 1826-1845
Contents:
Daily and weekly totals for each gate, with summaries at rear; annual totals for Holt Lane toll-bar 1829 and 1830; annual audit signed by chairman; no accounts for three years from 31 March 1836 and one year from 16 May 1839 as tolls were leased
Accounts of Tolls received at Radwell Corner weighing-engine from overweight vehicles
TP6/24-28 1814 - 1828Contents:
Daily entries showing owner's name and place of residence, type of vehicle, excess weight, and toll charged; with periodic summaries of takings, and deductions for salary of collector
Accounts of Tolls
TP6/24 1814-1815
Accounts of Tolls
TP6/25 1815-1816
Accounts of Tolls
TP6/26 1816-1819
Accounts of Tolls
TP6/27 1819-1822
Accounts of Tolls
TP6/28 1822-1828
Clerk's bills for professional charges and incidental expenses
TP6/29 1795-1822
Voucher Book
TP6/30 1809-1815
Contents:
Volume into which have been written or pasted receipts for payments to tradesmen, toll-collectors and mortgagees
Analysed Journal Accounts of Expenditure
TP6/31 1823-1829
Contents:
Annual audit signed by chairman
Analysed Journal Accounts of Expenditure
TP6/32 1829-1833
Contents:
Annual audit signed by chairman
Estimate and Analysed Journal Accounts of Expenditure, October - December 1833
TP6/33 1833
Contents:
Period not included in TP6/32
Annual Estimates and Analysed Journal Accounts of Expenditure
TP6/34 1835-1844
Annual General Statements of Account
TP6/35 1823-1867
Contents:
Original bundle of signed manuscript or printed statements; lacking October - December 1833, 1835, 1838, 1845
Original Bundle
Annual General Statements of Account
TP6/36 1823-1868
Contents:
Incomplete series of printed statements, formed from several bundles of duplicates; includes 1868 statement with supplemental account of appropriation of balance on termination of the Trust, which is absent from TP6/35
Register of Promissory Notes
TP6/37 1722-1727
Contents:
Book in which have been pasted counterfoils of notes no. 1-120 (see TP6/38),with annotations of payments to March 1735/6
Promissory Notes no. 1-243
TP6/38 1722-1778
Contents:
Almost complete series of interest-bearing negotiable notes, redeemable on demand, issued instead of settlement of accounts or in return for loans, endorsed with interest and redemption payments; originally in three bundles, 1-120, 121-192, 193-243; lists of outstanding notes are included in TP6/44 and 45
Deed of discharge for a lost security
TP6/39 1732
Mortgages of Tolls
TP6/40 1720-1725
Contents:
Endorsed with assignments and discharges to 1762
Mortgages of Tolls
TP6/41 1811
Contents:
Endorsed with discharges 1821
Register of Mortgages of Tolls
TP6/42 1811
Contents:
Copies of seven mortgage deeds
Register of Mortgages of Tolls
TP6/43 1838-1855
Contents:
Copies of five mortgage deeds 1838-1841 and two deeds of assignment 1841 and 1855
Papers relating to periodic financial reviews
TP6/44 1727-1768
Contents:
Including summaries of toll receipts, expenditure on road maintenance, and statements of debt
Papers relating to periodic financial reviews
TP6/45 1770-1823
Contents:
Similar to TP6/44
Miscellaneous papers relating to finances
TP6/46 1833-1868
Contents:
Including draft annual general statements, surveyor's annual summaries of weekly expenditure, statements of account with lessee of tolls no continuous series, but surveyor's statements are fairly complete from 1858
Miscellaneous papers relating to finances
TP6/47 1835-1844
Papers relating to financial state of the Trust
TP6/48 1840
Contents:
Including summaries of expenditure on road maintenance 1832-1839
Original Bundle
Papers relating to financial state of the Trust
TP6/49 1840-1843
Contents:
Including reviews of officers' salaries, means of increasing revenue from tolls, and proposed parish contributions
Papers relating to financial state of the Trust
TP6/50 1844-1845
Contents:
Including summaries of surveyor's expenditure 1825-1843
Papers relating to performance of statute duty on the road
TP6/51 1725-1821
Contents:
Including copies of justices' apportionments of labour and composition from parishes in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, and lists of persons liable to perform statute duty in Baldock, Bygrave, Graveley, Hinxworth, Radwell, Stevenage, Weston, and Little Wymondley, in 1813 and 1821
Book of precedents for summonses and orders relating to statute duty
TP6/52 1812
Summonses to parish surveyors of highways to produce lists of persons liable to perform statute duty; with lists from Baldock, Stevenage, Weston, and Willian
TP6/53 1831
Contents:
Original Bundle
Justices' Orders and other papers relating to contributions to maintenance of the road by Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire parishes
TP6/54 1842-1845
Instruments of appointment of toll-collectors
TP6/55 1751-1830
Bonds of toll-collectors for performance of duties
TP6/56 1738-1828
Miscellaneous papers relating to collection of tolls
TP6/57 1753-1823
Contents:
Including annual totals received at Holt Lane toll-bar in various years between 1790 and 1820
Leases of Tolls
TP6/58 1784;1836; 1839;1854
Contents:
1784 Lease contains bonds and other papers; 1854 lease is endorsed with memorandum of attornment by lessee as tenant to mortgagees who had taken possession of the tolls
Papers relating to letting of tolls
TP6/59 1835-1854
Papers relating to letting of tolls
TP6/60 1836-1840
Contents:
Original Bundle
Title deeds and associated documents relating to freehold property near Market Cross, Middle Row, Baldock
TP6/61 1540/1; 1613/4-1684
Title deeds and associated documents relating to freehold properties in Middle Row, Baldock
TP6/62 1722/3-1778
Contents:
Continuation of deeds in TP6/61: in 1727 the property was divided but both parts came into the hands of a single owner in 1756; another property was acquired in 1759
Title deeds and associated documents relating to freehold properties in Middle Row and Butchers Row, Baldock
TP6/63 1755-1778
Contents:
The first document in this series is a copy (1755) of a will made in 1734 which recites a deed of 1731; the property was divided into three parts in 1759, one of which was acquired by the owner of the property in TP6/62 along with copies of deeds in this series
Original Bundle
Title deeds and associated documents relating to freehold property in High Street, Baldock
TP6/64 1649-1778
Contents:
Connected with the property in TP6/65
Title deeds and associated documents relating to copyhold and leasehold properties in Middle Row, Baldock
TP6/65 1691/2-1779
Contents:
Connected with the property in TP6/64
Conveyances of a freehold corner shop in Whitehorse Street, Baldock
TP6/66 1755
Deeds of enfranchisement of copyhold property in Baldock and its exchange for land previously acquired for widening the road near Market Cross, Baldock
TP6/67 1762
Conveyances of various freehold properties in Baldock for widening the road
TP6/68 1778-1779
Contents:
Although relating to properties in the same area as TP6/61-67 these deeds are not part of any preceding series
Original Bundle
Title deeds and associated documents relating to copyhold property in St. Andrews Street, Biggleswade, including abstract of title 1754-1816
TP6/69 1779-1834
Conveyances of various copyhold properties in Biggleswade for widening the road
TP6/70 1772-1775
Title deeds of copyhold property in Graveley, manor of Chisfield and Graveley
TP6/71 1790-1834
Conveyance of freehold land in Graveley for widening the road
TP6/72 1795
Covenant to surrender a copyhold cottage used as toll-house at Holt Lane bar, Graveley
TP6/73 1795
Papers relating to improvements and maintenance of the road
TP6/74 1754-1799
Papers relating to sales of land formerly used for obtaining gravel
TP6/75 1803-1813
Claims for damages in obtaining gravel, bills for carting and other items connected with maintenance of the road
TP6/76 1812-1834
Papers relating to improvements of the road at Allen's Hill (Baldock and Bygrave) and White Hill (Weston and Willian)
TP6/77 1823-1829
Opinions of counsel on cases relating to maintenance of the road in towns of Baldock and Biggleswade, and the branch road from Radwell Corner to Arlesey
TP6/78 1833
Papers relating to improvement of the road at Topler's Hill (Edworth, Bedfordshire)
TP6/79 1836-1840
Statutory notices of intended works by the Direct Northern Railway affecting the road in Arlesey and Biggleswade
TP6/80 1845
Certificate by justices that the road was in good condition on ceasing to be a turnpike
TP6/81 1868
Papers relating to promotion of Acts of Parliament, including documents relating to the Royston and Dunstable districts of the Tring to Bourn Bridge Road
TP6/82 1730-1778
Papers relating to promotion of Stevenage and Biggleswade Road Act 1811, including a plan of the road showing position of toll-gates
TP6/83 1810-1811
Correspondence and papers relating to promotion of Stevenage and Biggleswade Road Act 1832
TP6/84 1829-1832
Standing Orders of House of Commons (1685-1819) relating to private Bills
TP6/85 1819
Correspondence and draft returns in connection with Parliamentary orders
TP6/86 1820-1865
Notices of meetings of Trustees
TP6/87 1828-1848
Newspapers containing notices of the Trust
TP6/88 1837-1848
General correspondence
TP6/89-91 [n.d.]
Contents:
Collation of two original bundles of in-letters and drafts or copies of out-letters, with correspondence from several bundles of miscellaneous papers
Correspondence
TP6/89 1801-1842
Correspondence
TP6/90 1844-1855
Correspondence
TP6/91 1856-1869
Miscellaneous papers
TP6/92 c.1842-1878
Contents:
Including statements of length of turnpike road in each parish and calculations of parish contributions to its maintenance c.1842-c.1866; provisions of Annual Turnpike Acts Continuance Acts 1865-1868; draft conveyances of sites of toll-houses 1868; questionnaire from County Surveyor and draft reply concerning the extent of the former turnpike road 1878
These papers are the residue of an original bundle after the removal of correspondence, and appear to have been assembled for the purpose of calculating the distribution of the Trust's assets at its termination, and subsequently to answer the County Surveyor's enquiry
General Turnpike Acts
TP6/93 1754-1777
Acts relating to other turnpike roads
TP6/94 1769;1833
Contents:
Tring to Bourn Bridge, 9 Geo. III, c. 86; Royston District (Baldock to Bourn Bridge), 3 & 4 Wm. IV, c. lx
Samples of surveyor's vouchers
TP6/95 1823-1836
Appraisal information:
Tradesmen's bills for goods and services have been preserved where they amplify information in the accounts, but receipts relating to payments for road materials, cartage, and compensation for land, have been destroyed
Related information:
See TP6/76 for paper concerning receipt payments destroyed
Contents:
Bills and receipts for disbursements by Joseph Lofts, entered in accounts volumes TP6/14 and 15 under the same dates as the payments were made
Bundles correspond to the original divisions in the accounts volumes
Vouchers TP6/95/1 Mar 1823 - Sept 1823
Vouchers TP6/95/2 Oct 1823 - Sept 1824
Vouchers TP6/95/3 Oct 1824 - Oct 1825
Vouchers TP6/95/4 Nov 1825 - Oct 1826
Vouchers TP6/95/5 Dec 1826 - Sept 1827
Vouchers TP6/95/6 Nov 1827 - Sept 1828
Vouchers TP6/95/7 Oct 1828 - Sept 1829
Vouchers TP6/95/8 Sept 1829 - Sept 1830
Vouchers TP6/95/9 Sept 1830 - Sept 1831
Vouchers TP6/95/10 Oct 1831 - Oct 1832
Vouchers TP6/95/11 Oct 1832 - Oct 1833
Vouchers TP6/95/12 Oct 1833 - Dec 1833
Vouchers TP6/95/13 Jan 1834 - Dec 1834
Vouchers TP6/95/14 Feb 1835 - Dec 1835
Vouchers TP6/95/15 Jan 1836 - Mar 1836
Treasurer's vouchers
TP6/96 1846-1847
Contents:
Bills and receipts for disbursements by James McAdam; bills are numbered in relation to weekly account books which are not extant, and generally are not entered individually in accounts volume TP6/17; numbered receipts for gravel and cartage payments are entered in accounts, but under dates which precede those of the vouchers; this original bundle is preserved whole to exemplify procedure, but few of its components have any individual interest
Original Bundle
Miscellaneous vouchers, mostly of clerk for printing and advertisements, but also including two small original packets, one of which relates to repair of the weighbridge 1837-8
TP6/97 1824-1839
WADESMILL TURNPIKE TRUST
TP7 [n.d.]
Archival history:
The Trust's first clerk was the ubiquitous Clerk of the Peace, Bostock Toller junior of Hertford (1733-1761), succeeded by James Windus of Ware (1761-1763), William Plumer Windus of Ware (1763-1792), and three generations of the Motts of Much Hadham (who also served the Hockerill Trust) - Thomas (1792-1827), Thomas Samuel (1827-1852), and Thomas (1852-1872). The records remained with the firm of Mott, Gayton and Mott, and their sucessors Gayton and Hare, until 1909 when they were acquired by the County Surveyor. The books and papers were transferred to the County Strong Room in 1929, but the maps (TP7/30-32) were retained by the Highways Department until 1956 (part of Accession 673). One document (TP7/9) which had gone out of the clerk's custody was acquired from the former County Museum in 1947 (formerly number 38167 in Accession 103) and has now been restored to the archives of the Trust.
Creator(s):
Wadesmill Turnpike Trust, Hertfordshire
Administrative history:
The Wadesmill Turnpike Trust was established from June 1733 by 6 Geo. II c. 24 which repealed a succession of Acts passed since 1663 by which the Justices of the Peace for Hertfordshire had been empowered to erect a turnpike or toll-gate at Wadesmill for the maintenance of the Old North Road within the county (from Cheshunt through Ware to Royston). Similar powers granted to the justices of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire were not pursued, and Hertfordshire therefore had the first turnpike road in the country, but the tolls do not appear to have been diligently applied to the repair of the road. In 1681 the justices sold the toll-house and eventually used the remaining assets towards the cost of a new gaol. In 1692 the powers of the justices were revived and continued by two further Acts until the administration of the road was placed in the hands of trustees in 1733. Scanty references to this period of control by the justices are contained in the rolls and minute-books of Quarter Sessions, for which the calendars of Hertford County Records (volumes I, II, VI, VII) should be consulted.
The part of the Old North Road controlled by the Wadesmill Trust extended from Wadesmill to Royston with a branch from Puckeridge to Barley, which was extended in the 1790s over the county boundary into the parishes of Great and Little Chishall (then in Essex, now in Cambridgeshire), a total distance of nearly twenty-eight miles. The Trust's first toll-gate, taken over from the justices, was at Wadesmill and remained the only one until 1762, when gates were erected at the north end of Buntingford (moved to the bridge in 1775 and back to the north end in 1846) and the south end of Barkway (with a side-gate from 1779). The erection of a weighing-engine was considered on several occasions (1752, 1779, 1796) but was not effected until 1807 when the site chosen was at the north of Collier's End. The machine was discontinued in 1831 and demolished in 1846. A fourth toll-gate was set up in 1844 where the two branches of the road diverged at the north end of Puckeridge, and all of these gates remained until the abolition of the Trust's powers. From 1 November 1872 repair of the former turnpike road became the responsibility of the Highway Boards of the Buntingford and Hadham Districts, but the trustees continued to meet until 26 November 1872 for winding up the affairs.
Acts of Parliament relating to the road administered by the justices
1663 15 Chas. II c. 1 For repairing highways in the counties of Hertford, Cambridge and Huntingdon, for 11 years [to expire 1674].
Photocopy of printed transcript (County Record Office: search room)
1664-5 16 & 17 Chas. II c. 10 Extended term of preceding Act only in respect of Hertfordshire.
[No copy available]
1692 4 Wm. & Mary c. 9 (4 & 5 Wm. & Mary c. 9) Revived preceding Acts for term of 15 years [to 1707]. (County Library: H388.1)
1706/7 6 Anne c. 14 (5 Anne c. 11) Extended term for 15 years [to 1722]. (County Library: H388.1)
1720 6 Geo. I c. 20 Extended term for 15 years [to 1737].
In vol. "Repairing Highways", (County Library:H388.1)
(County Record Office: Search-room)
Wadesmill Turnpike Trust Acts
1733 6 Geo. II c. 24 Repealed preceding Acts and established Trust for roads from Wadesmill to Barley and Royston for 21 years from June 1733 [to expire 1754]. (County Library H388.1)
(County Record Office: Search room)
1742/3 16 Geo. II c. 16 Extended term for 21 years [to 1775]. (County Library H388.1, County Record Office Search room)
1762 2 Geo. III c. 48 Extended term for 21 years [to 1796].
[no copy available]
1796 36 Geo. III c. 129 [no copy available]
1821 1 & 2 Geo. IV c. xvii Repealed term and consolidated powers of preceding Acts for 21 years from July 1821.
From 1842 the Trust was prolonged by Annual Turnpike Acts Continuance Acts until its termination was fixed at 1 November 1872 by 35 & 36 Vict. c. 85 (1872).
Contents:
The extant records of the Wadesmill Trust include a complete series of minute-books, accounts from 1820, financial and administrative papers and correspondence from the 1840s, and large-scale detailed plans of the road.
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP7/1 1733-1751
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP7/2 1752-1765
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP7/3 1765-1778
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP7/4 1778-1816
Contents:
Signed by trustees
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP7/5 1816-1845
Contents:
Signed by trustees until December 1822, thereafter signed by chairman; from 1823 includes annual general statements of account and comparative summaries of one year's accounts with those of preceding year; annual estimates of expenditure from 1834
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP7/6 1845 - 1872
Contents:
Signed by chairman; includes annual general statements and comparative summaries of accounts, and annual estimates of expenditure
Wadesmill Road Act, 1 & 2 Geo. IV, c. xvii
TP7/7 1821
Lists of Trustees
TP7/8 c.1821-1855
Roll of Affirmations by Quaker Trustees of qualification for office
TP7/9 1765-1817
Trustees' Qualification Oath Book
TP7/10 1823-1836
Trustees' Declarations of Qualification for office
TP7/11 1836-1868
Contents:
On printed forms in stitched file 1836-1846, loose sheets 1848-1868
Original Bundle
Bonds of Treasurers and Surveyors for performance of office
TP7/12 1830-1869
Journal Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP7/13 1820-1852
Contents:
Annual audit signed by trustees until 1824, thereafter signed by chairman at annual general meeting; income from tolls is given for each gate separately except in periods when tolls were leased
Journal Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP7/14 1850-1872
Contents:
Audit signed by chairman at annual general meeting until 1871; accounts duplicate TP7/13 for 1850-1852
Journal Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP7/15 1853-1872
Contents:
Audit signed by chairman at annual general meeting until 1865; accounts duplicate TP7/14 without apparent purpose
Register of Mortgages of Tolls
TP7/16 1829-1837
Contents:
Copies of twelve mortgage deeds, with note of discharges to 1848
Miscellaneous papers relating to finances
TP7/17 1841-1852
Contents:
Including draft and printed annual general statements of account, annual estimates of expenditure, account of interest assessed to property tax
Miscellaneous papers relating to finances
TP7/18 1857-1867
Contents:
Including draft annual general statements of account, estimates of expenditure, abstracts of treasurer's and surveyor's accounts, clerk's bills for professional charges and incidental expenses
Original Bundle
Leases of Tolls
TP7/19 1849-1868
Conditions, agreements and correspondence concerning the letting of tolls
TP7/20 1847-1865
Miscellaneous memoranda, draft minutes, notices and warrants relating to toll-gates and leases of tolls
TP7/21 1848-1853
Notices and orders concerning removal of Buntingford toll-gate and weighing-engine at Collier's End; with four petitions for removal of Puckeridge toll-gate (n.d.)
TP7/22 1846-1848 and n.d
Correspondence and papers concerning case of Purdy v. Smith as to liability of Smith's cart to pay toll at Wadesmill gate
TP7/23 1858-1859
Contents:
Original Bundle
Correspondence, estimates and reports relating to maintenance and improvement of the road
TP7/24 1844-1859
Schedules of tenders for the supply of gravel and purchase of road sand
TP7/25 1845-1853; 1869
Contents:
Original bundle 1845-1853, additions 1869
Statutory notices of proposed railway works affecting the road, issued by Eastern Counties Railway (1846) and Ware, Hadham and Buntingford Railway (1857)
TP7/26 1846;1857
Draft returns to Parliamentary orders, with related correspondence
TP7/27 1839-1866
Replies by parishes to questionnaire on continuance of the Trust
TP7/28 1866
General correspondence
TP7/29 1844-1871
Maps of Wadesmill Road by William Buckland of Eastwick
TP7/30-31 1827
Contents:
Showing toll-gates, inns and other buildings, milestones, parish boundaries, and land use
Wadesmill to Westmill TP7/30 1827
Westmill to Royston TP7/31 1827
Plan and section of proposed improvements at Collier's End by straightening the line and reducing the inclination of the road
TP7/32 1828
Contents:
Signed by chairman on adoption 18 August 1828, and by contractor 28 October 1828; shows position of weighing-engine
WATTON TURNPIKE TRUST
TP8 [n.d.]
Archival history:
The successive clerks of the Watton Trust were all Hertford solicitors, many of whom held high office in the County administration: Bostock Toller junior (1757-1761), John Malet (1761-1768), Benjamin Rooke senior (1768-1778), James Atkinson (1778-1796), Henry Alington (1796-1842), and Thomas Sworder (1842-1875). Except for the first minute-book, which is incomplete for the period of Rooke's clerkship, all the extant books of the Trust, together with a few other documents (TP8/16, 17, 19), were handed over to the County Surveyor in 1913 by Sworder's successor Charles Elton Longmore, and were transferred to the County Strong Room in 1929. The first volume of minutes and the remaining papers were included in one of several deposits by Messrs. Longmore in the late 1940s (principally Accession 93 in 1947), and a number of them have been removed from among the records of the Cheshunt Trust.
Creator(s):
Watton Turnpike Trust, Hertfordshire
Administrative history:
The Watton Turnpike Trust was established by 30 Geo. II c. 45 from May 1757 to administer the roads from the east end of Hertford through Watton to the Welwyn Turnpike at Broadwater, and from the north end of Ware to Watton and thence to the north end of Walkern, each of which routes was between nine and ten miles in length. The only significant diversions of the road were undertaken not on the Trust's initiative but at the request and largely at the expense of prominent land-owners in the area. The road from Watton to Ware was turned a little further east from Woodhall Park in 1841-3 and the parish road from Sacombe to Hertford which had crossed the turnpike road at the south-east corner of the park and passed north of Burr's Green was displaced by about a quarter of a mile on either side of the former junction. In 1868-9 the road between Hertford and Watton which had run through the grounds of Goldings and into Waterford north of the church was turned eastward across the River Beane, through Great Mole Wood and back across the river to enter the village on the east side of the church. Parts of the former turnpike road and parish roads and footpaths were retained within the grounds of Goldings as private paths, while the remainder were stopped up and the public rights of way diverted in 1870 (see Hertford County Records vol. III, pp. 103-4 and references).
The founding Act of the Watton Trust laid down that toll-gates were to be erected across both the Broadwater and the Walkern roads at their junction in Watton near "the stone", but that these were to be replaced after one year by a gate across the road from Watton to Hertford in the parish of Stapleford, and a pair of gates at the south-east corner of Woodhall Park across the Watton to Ware branch of the turnpike road and the parish road from Sacombe to Hertford. In addition to the gates set up in accordance with the Act a side-gate was erected in 1757 north of Woodhall Park across the road to Whempstead. This was taken down in the following year and a side-gate placed across a no longer existing lane from Bramfield near Goldings, and in 1779 another side-gate was erected either on this lane or on the present Bramfield Lane. In both these cases the side-gate produced no income for the Trust as the collectors were allowed to keep the tolls as their remuneration. In consequence of the alteration of the roads at Woodhall Park the pair of gates which had together constituted Sacombe gate were separated in 1843, one being moved a little further north under the name of Sacombe gate and the other transferred to the south as Tonwell gate. These gates and the one at Stapleford, which was opposite to Vicarage Lane, remained until the termination of the Trust on 1 November 1875 when the responsibility for maintaining the former turnpike roads passed principally to the Hertford District Highway Board, with comparatively small stretches coming under the authority of the Highway Boards of the Hadham and Hitchin Districts.
Watton Turnpike Trust Acts
1757 30 Geo. II c. 45 For repairing roads from the east end of Hertford to the turnpike road at Broadwater, and from Ware to Watton and thence to the north end of Walkern, for 21 years from May 1757 [to expire 1778]. [typed copy] County Record Office: "Acts of Parliament affecting Highways in and near Hertford" (compiled for Clerk of Peace, 1904)
1778 18 Geo. III c. 94 Extended term for 21 years [to 1799]. County Record Office: "Acts of Parliament affecting Highways in and near Hertford" (compiled for Clerk of Peace, 1904)
1799 39 Geo. III c. xviii Extended term for 21 years [to 1820]. County Record Office: "Acts of Parliament affecting Highways in and near Hertford" (compiled for Clerk of Peace, 1904)
1820 1 Geo. IV c. lxx Amended preceding Acts and established term of 21 years from July 1820. County Record Office: "Acts of Parliament affecting Highways in and near Hertford" (compiled for Clerk of Peace, 1904)
From 1841 the Trust was prolonged by Annual Turnpike Acts Continuance Acts until its termination was fixed at 1 November 1875 by 34 & 35 Vict. c. 115 (1871).
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP8/1 1757-1768
Contents:
Attested by clerk to May 1761
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP8/2 1778-1819
Contents:
Usually attested by clerk
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP8/3 1820-1867
Contents:
Attested by clerk to October 1841, thereafter signed by chairman; includes annual general statements of account from 1842, estimates of expenditure from 1843; title page illustrated with pen drawing of a covered waggon pulled by four horses, the driver walking at the head of the team and using his whip
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP8/4 1868-1875
Contents:
Usually signed by chairman; occasionally minutes are lacking
Copy Minutes of two special meetings (21 August and 9 October 1867) concerning proposed diversion of the road at Goldings, Waterford (Bengeo)
TP8/5 1867
Instrument of Appointment of a Trustee
TP8/6 1767
Trustees' Qualification Declaration Book
TP8/7 1842-1873
Journal Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP8/8 1846-1875
Contents:
Audit, usually quarterly, signed by chairman to 1858 and occasionally thereafter
Surveyor's Weekly Expenditure Account Book
TP8/9 1864
Contents:
Printed form showing expenditure analysed "pursuant to Act of 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c.80"
Annual General Statements of Account
TP8/10 1855-1871
Contents:
1855 (Manuscript), marked "refused by Clerk of the Peace", and 1864 (printed), both found with papers of Cheshunt Turnpike Trust; 1871 (printed) found loose in volume TP8/8
Notices of auction of lease of tolls
TP8/11 1859
Incomplete draft return to Parliamentary order concerning length of road, salaries and date of appointment of officers
TP8/12 c.1865
Verdict of Sheriff's Inquisition as to value of land required for alteration of the road
TP8/13 1867
Contents:
Location not specified, but relates to diversion at Goldings
Correspondence relating to diversion of turnpike road, parish roads, and footpaths at Goldings, Waterford (Bengeo)
TP8/14 1867-1874
Contents:
Original Bundle
Conditions, agreements and draft contracts for diversion of road at Goldings
TP8/15 1868
1 bdl
[Very badly damaged by damp]
Contents:
Original Bundle
Plan of proposed diversion of road at Goldings, by R.C. Driver & Co., Whitehall, for Robert Smith, with note signed by chairman of Trust referring to resolutions of meeting 27 March 1867
TP8/16 1867
Plan of proposed diversion of road at Goldings, as approved by Trustees 15 January 1868 and signed by chairman
TP8/17 1868
Contents:
Differs from route proposed in TP8/16
Plan and section of proposed diversion of road at Goldings, dated 11 August 1868, with note 16 June 1869 of details to be shown on deed of conveyance
TP8/18 1868
Contents:
Shows the original road, Robert Smith's proposed diversion, and the approved route
Miscellaneous papers mostly concerning disposal of toll-gates and distribution of assets at the termination of the Trust
TP8/19 1874-1876
Contents:
Found loose in volume TP8/8
WELWYN TURNPIKE TRUST
TP9 [n.d.]
Archival history:
As far as can be determined from the incomplete records which are available, the Welwyn Trust's first clerk was William Barker, succeeded in 1750 by John Runnington. From at least 1770 until the end of the Trust the clerks were all members of the Times family of Hitchin - Lawrence, Daniel, Charles, and William Onslow Times, the last of whom was a partner in Messrs. Hawkins of Hitchin who had been the Trust's treasurers since the early nineteenth century. Even before the termination of the Trust its records had begun to be dispersed. By 1875 the local antiquary John Thompson had acquired the petition for the repair of the Codicote branch road, and published a transcript of it (wrongly attributing it to 1726). This document and a copy of the transcript came into the possession of Reginald L. Hine, an antiquary and partner in Messrs. Hawkins, who deposited it with the County Record Office in 1939 (Accession la, 87818) together with a volume of the Trust's accounts (87819) which has been restored to the Trust records as TP9/5. Other documents of the Trust and the Hitchin and Bedford Turnpike, which was also served by several of the Times and by Hawkins, were deposited in 1948 by Hitchin Museum (Accession 163). A volume of surveyor's accounts (68198) has been transferred from this accession to TP9/15 but other records of the Trust (67896, 67903, 67925-6, 67928, and numerous items of correspondence in the series 67930-68197) have not been incorporated. Two volumes of accounts (TP9/4, 9) which had been lodged in St. Mary's Church, Hitchin, were recovered in 1965 (part of Official Accession 70). Most of the other records were acquired from Messrs. Hawkins by the County Surveyor in 1905 and transferred to the County Strong Room in 1929, and the remainder (TP9/7, 10, 13, 14, 19, 20, 22, 24) came to the County Record Office direct from Messrs. Hawkins in 1940 (Accession 13).
Creator(s):
Welwyn Turnpike Trust, Hertfordshire
Related information:
Four volumes of minutes covering the Trust's history after 1755 are in the archives of the Marquess of Salisbury at Hatfield House.
Administrative history:
The Trust commonly known by this name was established by 12 Geo. I c. 10 from May 1726 to administer the roads from Lemsford Mill through Welwyn and Stevenage to Corey's Mill, and from Welwyn through Codicote to Hitchin, a combined length of nearly twenty miles. The Act laid down that there was to be no toll-gate north of Welwyn, and that two-thirds of the Trust's income, whether from tolls or mortgage loans, was to be expended in repairing the road from Welwyn to Corey's Mill (7½ miles), and preference in the expenditure of the remaining third was to be given to the road between Lemsford Mill and Welwyn (3 miles). Nothing was spent on the Codicote branch until the inhabitants of Hitchin and its vicinity petitioned the Trust for action in 1733. In 1738 the road from Corey's Mill to Hitchin (3 miles) was placed under the Trust's administration and was added to the area to be maintained out of the two-thirds. The Trust was in that year allowed to establish a gate between Welwyn and Stevenage for taking toll on droves of cattle and sheep but not on other sorts of traffic. In 1763 the allocation of expenditure was altered to three-quarters for the road from Lemsford Mill through Welwyn and Stevenage to Hitchin (13½ miles) and one quarter for the Codicote branch (9 miles). The Trust's finances and administration continued to be divided in this way until 1810. In 1833, under pressure from the Government to improve the Great North Road, the road was diverted in collaboration with the Galley Corner Turnpike: Lemsford Mill was avoided by a more direct line from Stanborough to Brickwall Farm, and the new junction of the Trusts was established near Handside.
The exact location of the first toll-gate set up in 1726 is not recorded, but late eighteenth century maps show a gate about one hundred yards south of Ayot Green. By the early 1820s it appears to have been moved a similar distance north of Ayot Green, and its subsequent description as Digswell gate suggests that for a time its location may have been even further north. Side-gates were erected in 1727 near the Pound at the south end of Welwyn across the lane to Ayot St. Peter and in 1740 at Woolmer Green by the lane leading to Tewin, and additional side-gates for taking toll on droves were allowed by Acts of 1763 and 1784. Weighbridges were constructed in 1813 at Stevenage and Codicote but their use may have been suspended when the tolls were leased in 1825. The Trust's Act of 1831 enabled it to have main gates on each branch of road, initially at Digswell, Stevenage and Langley but after several alterations in the course of the year the positions established were Brickwall, Broadwater and Langley. In 1851 the Broadwater gate was moved nearer Stevenage, to Monksbottom (Monk's Wood), but no further changes in the number or location of toll-gates were made before the termination of the Trust on 1 November 1877, when responsibility for maintaining the road passed to the Highway Boards of the Hatfield and Hitchin Districts and the Hitchin and Stevenage Local Boards of Health.
Welwyn Turnpike Trust Acts
1726 12 Geo. I c. 10 For repairing roads from Lemsford Mill to Welwyn and Corey's Mill, and from Welwyn through Codicote to Hitchin, for 21 years from May 1726 [to expire 1747], and also enlarging term of 1720 Stevenage and Biggleswade Trust Act. [County Library: H388.1]
1738 11 Geo. II c. 10 Added road from Corey's Mill to Hitchin and extended term for 21 years [to 1768]. [County Record Office: Search room: County Library: H388.1]
1763 3 Geo. III c. 26 Altered application of income and extended term for 21 years [to 1789].
1784 24 Geo. III (session 1) c. 25 Extended term for 21 years [to 1810].
1810 50 Geo. III c. liv Abolished division in finances of Trust and extended term for 21 years [to 1831]. [copy available:61735]
1831 1 Wm. IV c. xxxvi Repealed preceding Acts and enacted new provisions for 31 years from June 1831.
From 1862 the Trust was prolonged by Annual Turnpike Acts Continuance Acts until 1872 when 35 & 36 Vict. c. 85 restricted future expenditure on road maintenance, salaries and interest payments, and fixed the Trust's termination at 1 November 1877.
Minutes of Meetings of Trustees
TP9/1 1726-1755
Related information:
[Minutes of Meetings of Trustees, 4 vols., 1756-1877, are in the archives of the Marquess of Salisbury at Hatfield House, where they may be consulted by prior appointment with the archivist]
Contents:
"Entries of Orders and Minutes", with copy signatures or clerk's note that original minutes had been signed by trustees; at rear, list of trustees elected in place of deceased members 1726-1753
Welwyn Road Acts, 3 Geo. III, c. 26 (1762), 24 Geo. III, session 1, c. 25 (1784), in booklet (printed 1806)
TP9/2 1806
Welwyn Road Act, 1 Wm. IV, c. xxxvi
TP9/3 1831
Quarterly Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP9/4 1763-1802
Contents:
Divided into "General Account", "Three fourths Account"and "One fourth Account"; the two latter accounts consist of the produce of three-quarters and one-quarter of the tolls after deducting certain items of expenditure on the general account; the principal payments on them are interest on mortgages specifically secured on those proportions of the tolls, but there are also payments to the surveyor (for road repairs) which do not have a proportionate relationship to the income on either of these accounts; audit is quarterly, signed by several trustees; at front, copies and summaries of mortgage deeds 1763-1773, copies of assignments 1823 and 1838, notes of assignments to 1842, and loose lists of mortgagees
Quarterly Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP9/5 1802-1810
Contents:
Divided in same manner as TP9/4; quarterly audit signed by trustees; at front, list of mortgagees
Quarterly Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP9/6 1810-1822
Contents:
Consolidated accounts; quarterly audit signed by trustees; at front, list of mortgagees
Quarterly Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP9/7 1822-1856
Contents:
Quarterly audit signed by chairman; shows tolls received at each gate - Digswell, Stevenage, Langley, March - September 1831; Brickwall, Broadwater, Langley, September 1831 - December 1833, 1839-1841, 1845-July 1848, October 1850 - June 1851; Brickwall, Monksbottom, Langley, from July 1851; at intervening periods tolls were leased and no details are available
Quarterly Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP9/8 1856-1877
Contents:
Quarterly audit signed by chairman; shows tolls received at each gate, Brickwall, Monksbottom, Langley, until December 1870; thereafter tolls were leased
Quarterly Ledger Accounts of Income and Expenditure, and Day Book
TP9/9 1781-1791
Contents:
Although entitled "Day Book 1782" the volume in fact comprises ledger entries of the general, three-fourths and one-fourth accounts copied from TP9/4 for 1781-1787; with day-book (rough journal) entries for all accounts 1782-1791, made in reverse order at the back of the book
Draft Quarterly Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP9/10 1818-1822
Contents:
Unaudited draft of entries in TP9/6; list of mortgagees at front
Duplicate Quarterly Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP9/11 1822-1845
Contents:
Unaudited duplicate of TP9/7; includes annual general statements of account signed by chairman; at rear, copies of twenty-one mortgage deeds 1831-1834, nine deeds of assignment 1831-1843, and note of further assignments to 1853
Duplicate Quarterly Accounts of Income and Expenditure
TP9/12 1845-1871
Contents:
Duplicate of TP9/7-8; quarterly audit 1847-1870 and annual general statements of account signed by chairman, with loose printed statements 1866, 1867, 1869, 1870; at rear, copy of deed of assignment 1853
Mortgage Interest Accounts
TP9/13 1823-1872
Contents:
Unaudited accounts of interest and principal payments to mortgagees, with separate accounts for each creditor until 1835
Mortgage Interest Accounts
TP9/14 1849-1872
Contents:
Duplicate of ff. 21-28 of TP9/13, but with quarterly balances usually signed by chairman; at rear, loose papers relating to mortgage accounts
General Surveyor's Accounts of Receipts and Expenditure
TP9/15 1820-1872
Contents:
Quarterly audit signed by trustees until 1829, thereafter signed by chairman; expenditure account does not specify items but refers by number to weekly account books which are not extant prior to 1872
Surveyor's Weekly Expenditure Account Book
TP9/16 1872
Contents:
Printed form showing expenditure analysed "pursuant to Act of 3 & 4 Wm. IV, c. 80"
Surveyor's Accounts of Receipts and Expenditure
TP9/17 1873-1877
Contents:
Quarterly audit signed by chairman; items of expenditure not specified but referred to weekly account "as per book"; surveyor identified as T.A. Butcher but without indication of the area of his responsibility, which apparently was not the whole road
Surveyor's Accounts of Receipts and Expenditure
TP9/18 1873-1877
Contents:
In same form as TP9/17 but not a duplicate; surveyor and his area are not identified
Draft statement of annual income and expenditure during 1726-1729
TP9/19 [? 1738]
Contents:
Heading shows that this statement was intended to cover 1726-1737, and probably was prepared in connection with Welwyn Road Act 1738, but was not completed
Bills of costs for promoting Welwyn Road Acts 12 Geo. I, c.10, 11 Geo. II, c. 10
TP9/20 [1726;1738]
Mortgages of Tolls
TP9/21 1734/5
Contents:
Endorsed assignments to 1775
Mortgages of Tolls
TP9/22 1763-1765
Contents:
Endorsed assignments and discharges to 1851
Mortgages of Tolls
TP9/23 1764-1770
Contents:
Endorsed assignments to 1784
Original Bundle
Mortgage of Tolls
TP9/24 1831
Contents:
Endorsed discharges to 1860
Standing Orders of both Houses of Parliament, with order of House of Lords and copy of return as to the extent of the road, state of debt, income and expenditure 1824-1829
TP9/25 1829-1830
Contents:
Original Bundle
Miscellaneous papers
TP9/26 1870-1877
Contents:
Including schedule of tolls (n.d.), analysed summary accounts 1870, estimated expense of maintaining the road in each parish 1874, conditions of sale of materials of toll-gates 1877, and rough calculations for distribution of assets on termination of the Trust
Miscellaneous bills
TP9/27 1872
