The turnpike trust was set up in 1762 by around 300 landed gentry to look after about 26 miles of road between Sparrows Herne near Bushey and Walton near Aylesbury. It was the turnpike's depot at Sparrows Herne which gave the road its name.
The frequent use of the route by heavy carts carrying grain to London made it notorious for its rutted and pitted state even after being made into a turnpike.
The turnpike survived the coming of the railways until 1872,[1] when it passed to the route's various parishes and highway boards to maintain and the tolls were removed.
Brick toll houses for these gates were built at a cost of around £25 each. Tollkeepers were appointed and paid 10s/6d a week for which they had to man the gate day and night and from which money they had to pay for the oil for the nighttime illumination of the gates with lamps.
In 1762, the maximum rate for tolls were:
Horse or beast drawing a coach - 3d
Packhorse (laden) - 1½d
Drove of oxen, cows etc. - 10d per score
Drove of sheep, calves, swine - 5d per score.
Referencesedit
^Nunn, JB (1987). The Book of Watford. Watford: Pageprint (Watford) Ltd. ISBN 0-9511777-1-0.
^Sparrow Herne Trust Turnpike Marker, Lower High Street, Watford, Images of England, English Heritage National Monuments Record.
^"Turnpike Post Opposite Brook Street". Heritage Gateway. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
Further readingedit
Humphreys, A. L. (1941). "Records of Turnpike Trusts: Sparrows Herne". Notes and Queries. 180: 211–13.
Littlefair, K. (1968). The Life of the Sparrows Herne Turnpike Trust 1762–1873 (Dissertation). University of Exeter.
External linksedit
Transport At Watford History
Edgware At British Online History
The Chiltern Canal Corridor Castle Wharf project Berkhamsted. Accessed April 2007
Strip Map from London to Aylesbury, Bowles's Post Chaise Companion, 1782.