The other day when I took the picture of those little lambs I mention that I had to climb a bank to get out of the road whilst taking a photograph of another building. Well this is what I was taking and it's a very old toll house or turnpike.
In the mid 1700's in UK, the government brought in laws to take tolls for travelling on the roads, mainly for maintaining the surfaces. All over the country were built houses with barriers across the roads and if you passed in coaches, horseback or driving animals you had to pay a toll.
You will notice that these houses have hexagonal fronts with six windows so that the toll man can look in all directions to see whats coming. This one dates from the early 1800's and is on a junction of 4 roads. The government stopped collecting tolls in the 1880's with the introduction of the railways that took a lot of transport off the roads. Needless to say they brought in vehicle road tax in 1888.
Thank you for your comments from yesterday's creepy gatehouse, if you enjoy these and the history I'll do some more.
I have always had a thing about toll houses - when I was a child I used to spend car journeys looking them (don't see many now we have motorways and by passes). This is a nice example with an interesting history to go with it. Fav
wonderful history and building!
sadly, our government now is starting to charge toll to maintain certain roads. Maybe one day, this custom too will fall away.
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sadly, our government now is starting to charge toll to maintain certain roads. Maybe one day, this custom too will fall away.
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