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Sheffield Turnpikes in the 18th Century.


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This article first appeared in the Transactions of the Hunter Archaeological Society, and is reproduced by kind permission of the Society. Thanks are also due to Gramps for the transcription. Notes in [ ] are listed at the end.

SHEFFIELD TURNPIKES IN THE 18th CENTURY.

By A. W. GOODFELLOW, M.A.

THE sudden growth of Sheffield at the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth is partly a result and partly a contributory cause of increased and improved means of communication. How far, or in what proportions, this is true, cannot be stated with any precision, but it is clear that improved communications were deliberately sought for in order that Sheffield might prosper and grow. It is equally apparent that an increase of .trade stimulated the growth of Sheffield industries, and hence the town grew rapidly along the lines of the new or extended routes.

Sheffield has always been isolated from other parts of the country and, indeed, from its near neighbours by lack of easy means of communication. Even the railways ignored the place. The chief reasons appear to have been its lying off the main routes, and the topographical difficulties of the town's immediate environs. It is cut off from the west by the almost impassable barrier of the High Peak and its foothills, and the eastward routes lie through low-lying country liable to extensive flooding.

Hunter says :

Until of late, Sheffield has always laboured under the disadvantage of being off the great thoroughfare of 'the country. In some respects, however, this may have been beneficial, since the town thereby escaped some of the worst effects of the mediaeval civil wars. Still this position kept it in retirement and obscurity from which it did not effectually emerge even when the first trunk lines of railway, connecting north and south, were planned. This difficulty in getting to the front gave the town a rustic character, and kept it for long in a rude condition.[1]

It is not surprising, therefore, to find Sheffield trade described as "inconsiderable, confined and precarious." There were no townsmen described as "merchants" in the local Directory, the first Bankers did not set up in business till the 1770's, and there was almost no intercourse with other towns. Trade was carried on with the outside world by the casual visits of "chapmen." Goodwin, Vicar of Attercliffe, says:

None presumed to extend this traffic beyond the bounds of this island, and most were content to wait the coming of a casual trader, or to carry their goods with great labour and expense to an uncertain market. . . [2]

Hunter gives additional testimony of this isolation :

There is living evidence of a primitive state of things which, when we contemplate into what dimensions the town has now expanded, seems scarcely credible. Within the recollection of an aged inhabitant, most of the cutlers' houses were small abodes, with a shop and a forge in the yard behind. You entered the low doorway by a step downwards, and the small written orders from the chapman who came round, and distributed his favours according to the samples shown, were stuck in the leaden casements of the windows, and formed a subject for comment by the passers-by. Very few of the manufacturers ventured to leave the town in search of custom. One who did so, has been described to us by his son as going off to some distant country fair, as Leipsic is still frequented, and sending his chattels in two or three heavily laden waggons the contents of which were disposed of in detail, an operation which would probably occupy a fortnight.[3]

Leader says that Joshua Fox of West Bar was the first manufacturer to make a personal business visit to London, and he, before leaving, gave a farewell feast to his family and made his will. We are told that he walked to Mansfield on the first day and waited there for a number of travellers sufficiently large to brave the dangers of Nottingham Forest.[4]

Goodwin, writing in 1797, says :

About fifty years ago, Mr. Joseph Broadbent first opened an immediate trade with the Continent. . . . Master manufacturers began to visit the Metropolis ... in search of orders, with good success. . . . The roads began to be greatly improved and Britain and Ireland were explored in search of trade.[5] . . :

It was not until the eighteenth century that the isolation of the town seems to have seriously inconvenienced local tradespeople. It was the prosperity of Liverpool, Manchester and Hull, which appears to have stimulated, if not inspired, a desire to share in the generally increasing trade of the country. It was easier access to these towns, and to London, and thence to the new markets of the Colonial powers, that was the object of the agitation in Sheffield to improve communications.

Referring to the "Navigation," Hunter says :

There were at that period (i.e., c. 1720) many persons at Sheffield who were aware that one great impediment to the extension of the commerce of the town was the difficulty of communication with the capital, and with the two ports of Liverpool and Hull. The inhabitants of Lancashire were making great improvements in the navigation of the Mersey; and there was a project much canvassed at Sheffield of making an excellent carriage-road over the Eastmoors to the first wharf constructed on that river.[6]

The said project was not carried out, and Sheffielders turned their attention to their own river and its possibilities (about which a subsequent article may be published). Their most striking achievement was in the construction of a network of roads which did much to bring the town into comparatively easy reach of its neighbours.

Gosling's map of Sheffield in 1736 shows a town of 9,695 inhabitants. Fairbank's map of 1771 shows a town of hardly greater extent, described by Goodwin in 1774 in these words:

"The extent of the town from East to West is about half a mile, and from North to South about three quarters. . . ." [7]

None of the early plans of the town gives any detailed information about its exits. The early maps of the surrounding country show three ill-defined routes, one wandering from the south, one, equally vague, leading north, and another, more clearly marked, following the Don to Rotherham and the east.

The chief exit from the town was by way of Lady's Bridge, from which point two roads diverged. The more important one led to Rotherham. It was important because it conducted traffic to Tinsley, to which stage the River Don had been made navigable by an Act of 1726. Before that time most of the products of the district used the same road to Tinsley, but then went across country to Bawtry, which was then an important town and inland port. There the goods were shifted from packhorses to boat and carried down the River Idle to Stockwith on the Trent.

There the goods were transhipped to larger boats, which took them to Hull en route for the Metropolis. Defoe, in his account of a tour through England, published in 1724, says :

"The town of Bawtry becomes the centre of all the exportation of this part of the country, especially for heavy goods, which they bring down hither from all the adjacent counties, such as lead from the lead-mines and smelting-houses in Derbyshire, wrought iron and edge-tools of all sorts from the forges at Sheffield and from the country called Hallamshire, being adjacent to the towns of Sheffield and Rotherham, where an innumerable number of people are employed.

Also millstones and grindstones in very great quantities are brought down and shipped off here, and so carried to Hull, and to London, and even to Holland also. This makes Bawtry Wharf be famous all over the south part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, for it is the place whither all their heavy goods are carried to be earmarked and shipped off". [8]

It was the inconvenience of the land trip to Bawtry that led Sheffield tradespeople to consider the possibilities of using their own river as a direct water route to Hull, and therefore to agitate for improvement of the river and for the construction of a canal.

Even when the canal was made (it was opened in 1819) the Tinsley road lost none of its significance. It crossed the river near Attercliffe. There is reason to believe that in earlier times it did not cross the river but to the south side, leaving the town by Sheaf Bridge. It was by this route that the Parliamentary Army approached to the assault on Sheffield Castle

. [but, as been pointed out in another article, the roundheads would hardly have risked marching in over Lady’s Bridge directly beneath the castle walls !! Gramps ]

Lady's Bridge also gave egress to the northern route. It led by the side of the Duke of Norfolk's Nursery to Bridgehouses, steeply to the right up Pye Bank, through the hamlet of Pitsmoor, on its way to Barnsley, Wakefield and York. A section of the old road may still be seen running parallel to and raised above the modern Barnsley Road at Abbeyfield, beyond the Toll Bar. This road was used in the last century, and up it toiled the chained gangs of prisoners on their way to York Assizes and Gaol.

The southern route was by way of Far Gate, Barkers Pool, Coalpit Lane, and Button Lane to a hamlet called Little Sheffield, the track then crossed Sheffield Moor, rose to Highfield, dropped to Heeley, and then up a steep lane to the left past Newfield Green. At the end of the seventeenth century this lane "appeared to be a very ancient way, being worne very deep." Because of the great difficulty of this route, people were in the habit of cutting across the Duke's Park from Sheaf Bridge, but they did so only on sufferance after an enquiry as to right of way in 1692.

At this enquiry, Nicholas Shiercliffe a cutler, aged 86, deposed :

Before the unhappy Civil Wars broke out, the gate of the Park next Gleadleys-moor was, by order of the owner, four times every year stopped up to prevent the same being claimed as a highway, and several times I have seen the same chained up and the carriers' packhorses, carts and carriages stopped from going that way without leave or paying something.

The ancient highway leading from Sheffield to the north-east part of Handsworth parish was through Attercliffe and Darnall; and the south-east side of the said parish through Little Sheffield, Heeley and Newfifield Green to London.[9]

Another witness, David Lee of Attercliffe, said that he had known the London carriers to pay money for liberty to pass that way.

When asked if he knew another road by the hospital along the top of the park-hill to the Intake, he answered that it was only a private way to the manour, till about seventy years before, it came to be much used. He further deposed that Sheaf Bridge was the only way into the park ; and that it was built and repaired by the lords, and that the roads through the park were also maintained at their expense. [10]

The period of road reform and road making began about 1740, partly in order to meet local demands and partly as a local manifestation of the general interest being taken in the highways. That interest was caused by the needs of trade and was stimulated by the difficulties experienced by the Government in dealing with the Jacobite Rebellions of 1715 and 1745.

Amendment of the roads was a common law obligation on the inhabitants of all parishes, reinforced by the Act of 1555. This Act directed that the parishioners should annually elect two surveyors, authorising them to require occupiers of land to attend each Midsummer with men, horses and carts in proportion to their holdings, and all other persons to bring their own tools and work for four days of eight hours.

In 1562 this Statute labour was increased to six days per year. This method of road maintenance remained in operation until the passing of the General Highway Act of 1835. It was never satisfactory—the surveyors were amateur, their allocation of work partial, and the labour grudging and ineffective. It sufficed to maintain the parish roads from farm to farm, but was quite inadequate for the maintenance of trunk roads connecting various parts of the country. As the roads kept in such a way were hardly distinguishable from farm-tracks, made of earth, repair was a matter of filling ruts and removing loose material. The accounts for the repair of Pitsmoor road in 1759 include a sum of 3/4 for

Two scrappels made by Mr Joulding of Chappeltown to pull in the ruts on the roadside. [11]

It is easy to see into what condition such roads would be reduced by wintry weather or heavy traffic. In 1770 the toll-bar-keeper at Tomcross Lane sent in his statement of receipts for the year. The total was 4/3 ½. He excused the amount in a letter saying:

"Sir, the reason of Tomcross Lane Barr taking no more cash this yr his by reason of the Lane and hedges being so exessife bad that nobody could get down but once this year—But I have served a warrant upon all the landholders betwen Tomcross Lane End and Grimesthorp and it his know in tolarable good condition which was ordered by a complaint to Mr Wilkinson". [12]

It will be noted that the lane referred to was one of the new roads on which tolls were collected. Another illustration is provided by Defoe's complaint in 1724 :

"One great difficulty here (i.e., Bedford) is that the country is so universally made up of a deep stiff clay, that tis hard to find any materials to repair the roads with, that may be depended upon. In some places they have a red sandy kind of slate or stone which they lay with timber and green faggots and puts them to a very great expense, but this stone does not bind like chalk' and gravel, or endure like flint and pebbles." [13]

For most of their lengths the roads were unenclosed—that is, they were hedged and fenced only when they ran through private property, park or farm, but over commons and untilled lands there were no fences. Much of the apparently meaningless meanderings of our country roads was caused by the making of detours in such unfenced areas to avoid bad patches.

Defoe records an instance of road widening of this sort, even on private land:

"Here (i.e., from Hatfield to Stevenage) is that famous lane called Baldock Lane, famous for being so unpassable that the coaches and travellers were obliged to break out of the way even by force, which the people of the country not able to prevent, at length placed gates and laid their lands open, setting men at the gates to take a voluntary toll, which travellers always chose to pay, rather than plunge into sloughs and holes which no horses could wade through." [14]

It became clear that the roads would never be of much use until new methods of maintenance and improved processes of construction were evolved. The former had been experimented with in the 17th century: the latter had to wait for Macadam.

In order to augment the financial resources of the roadmenders, a system was devised whereby tolls were to be paid by all road users. By an Act of 1663, the Justices in Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdonshire, were required to appoint surveyors to provide materials, to collect statute labour, and to pay for all labour required in excess. They were to appoint collectors of tolls to be levied at toll-gates at specific rates on all users of the road in question (the Great North Road). By this means the cost of repair of main roads was transferred from the parish to the user.

The transfer was unwelcome to some travellers, who objected to paying for a service which before had cost them nothing. Riots often took place and toll-houses were demolished. The first toll-house erected on the Sheffield-Glossop Road was attacked by an angry Sheffield crowd.

Following this precedent, innumerable Road Acts were passed in the 18th century. Local groups of substantial people formed themselves into committees to petition for a private Act of Parliament and became Trustees for a specified road or section of road, empowered to exercise such functions as those entrusted to the Justices in the Act of 1663 already quoted.

In the initiation of the Sheffield schemes, a prominent part was played by the Burgery of Sheffield and the Cutlers' Company. The accounts of the Burgery contain an increasingly large number of items of expenditure incurred in the inauguration and financing of turnpike concerns. The Trustees began their public work of promoting trade by taking the initiative in, and subscribing heavily for, the Canal Scheme in 1722.

The first reference to roads in these accounts reads :

Nov. 20 (1739) Paid Mr Gilbert Dixon for making a Rentall and for the trouble he had about the Chesterfield Turnpike, £1 10s. 6d. [15]

The Cutlers' Company joined the Town Trustees in this and other undertakings, apparently with the double motive of contributing to the material welfare of the town and at the same time of making some substantial profit from their investments.

Here are a few entries in the Burgery accounts taken at random which are typical:

1756. Feb. 6. Paid half the expence of a meeting at Mr Watson's relating to Turnpike affairs, the Master Cutler paying the other half—£1 0s. 6d. Paid to Mr Dawson and Mr Fairbank on Turnpike account £31 17s. 2d. Paid postage of letter from Mr Dawson in London on Turnpike affairs 2/8.

1779. Jan. 11. Paid the expences of a meeting at Mr Kay's to peruse the intended bill to Parliament £1 15s. 0d.

1784. Oct. 4. At a public meeting of the Trustees this day at the Town Hall, pursuant to Public notice given by the Bellman, it was resolved that it will be of public utility to open a carriage road from Waingate to Newhall Street agreeable to the plan drawn by William Fairbank. . . .

1784. Dec. 1. John Winter, Town Collector, credits the Town with £1870 0s. 8d. including interest received from the Penistone Turnpike £14 . . . Wakefield Turnpike interest £10 . . . Sparrow Pit Gate £12 ... Chesterfield Turnpike interest £32.

1795. Oct. 22. Payment of two further calls subscribed 'for the purpose of diverting the Chesterfield Turnpike' £50.

The money to finance the turnpikes was raised by public subscription, the interest being secured upon the annual sale by auction of the tolls to be collected. It was the necessity of paying off these mortgages that compelled the frequent renewal of Turnpike Trusts throughout the 19th century.

Two illustrations of the sort of people who contributed to the turnpikes follow. The former is taken from the rough draft of the Secretary's statement of the indebtedness of the Sheffield-Wakefield Trust in 1776 (seventeen years after its formation) :

Debts remaining on the Road :

Duke of Norfolk 1200

Duke of Devonshire 600

Marquis of Rockingham 600

Earl of Stafford 900

Mrs Wood 800

Mrs Mawhood 400

Sir Thos. Wentworth 300

Mrs E. Robinson 300

Town Collector 200 Total—£5,300. [16]

The second illustration comes from the same Trust and from a memorandum of interest payments made in the year 1769. Whilst repeating some of the names included in the former list, it contains a reference to a club of small contributors. The interest was paid at either 4 or 5 per cent:

Interest Payments made in 1769 :

£

Norfolk ... ... 48

Devonshire ... ... 24

Rockingham ... 24

Stafford ... ... 36

Wentworth ...... ... ... 25

Town Collector ... 18

Finch ... ... 5

Silkstone Club ... 10

Mrs Wood (i) ... 30

Mrs Robinson ... 7 10 0

Mrs Fisher ... 2 10 0 Total—£230. [17]

The tolls to be collected were fixed by the Act of Parliament for making the road in question, and varied slightly with time and place. They were the maximum charges and might be lowered by the trustees. The tolls on the Sheffield-Wakefield Road were fixed in 1759 on the following tariff, which may be taken as typical:

Tolls to be taken at every Barr as follows :

For every Coach, Berlin, etc. s. d.

drawn by 6 horses ... ... ... 2 0

„ 4 horses ... ... ... 1 6

„ 2 horses ... ... ... 6

For every Postchaise drawn by 4 horses 1 0

For every Postchaise or Chair

drawn by 1 horse ... ... ... 3

For every waggon etc. drawn by

4 horses ... ... ... ... .... ... ..10

3 horses ...... ... ... .... ... ... ... . 9

2 horses ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 6

1 horse ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 3

For every pair of millstones, if drawn in pairs,

and for every single millstone or block

of stone, or piece of timber, drawn by 5

or more horses or beasts of draught... 2 6

For every horse, mare, etc.. going unladen to

fetch coal, or which shall be laden with

coal, or returning empty

having delivered such lading ... ... ... 0 ½

For every other horse, mare, etc.

laden or unladen, and not drawing ... ... 1

For every drove of oxen and neat cattle

per score ... ... ... ... ... ... 10

For every drove of calves, swine, sheep and

lambs per score ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 5

The above tolls were settled in the country and should not be varied without the consent of the subscribers, yet Mr Bagshaw proposes that horses drawing coals shall pay 2d a horse which by the above list would pay 3d, a very material difference, a reduction of a third on an article which is expected to raise a good deal of tolls must consequently weaken the subscribers' security and for aught that can be known, make it very bad. . . .[18]

Exemptions from such charges were made to the mails, military horses, carriages of those going to and from church or election, waggons used in husbandry, beasts going to water or pasture, and people of influence in the district. Local gentry and proprietors of stage-coaches could compound for their annual tolls by an agreed payment.

Toll charges varied according to the number of horses per vehicle, the weight of the vehicle, and the width of the wheel.

The trustees were, of course, anxious to prevent damage to their property, and tried to regulate the speed of traffic by charging higher rates for increasing numbers of horses. They tried to discourage the passage of very heavy burdens by similar means. To check the weight they installed "weighing engines," as at Sandall in 1800.

Their chief care was to prevent the cutting-up of the surface by narrow tyres. Attempts were made by legislation to prohibit the use of waggons with wheels less than nine inches wide, and permitted the reduction of tolls in ratio of increased width.

A local illustration of the importance of this question is provided in the records of the Sheffield-Duffield Trust, where reference is made to the width of wheels and to permission to use extra horses for haulage on specified hills between certain named points :

It appearing to us on the oath of Saintforth Wroe of Longley in the county of York, Gent., being a person experienced in levelling, that the rise of the following hills upon the said Turnpike Road are about 4 inches in a yard, we do hereby allow to be drawn up the same hills, between the posts hereinafter mentioned, waggons having the soles or bottom of the fellies of the wheels of the breadth of 9 inches with 10 horses, and carts having the like wheels with 6 horses, and waggons of the wheels of the breadth of 6 inches with 7 horses, and carts having the like wheels with 5 horses, and waggons having wheels of less breadth than 6 inches with 5 horses, and carts with like wheels with 4 horses. (Then follows a list of hills beginning) The Hill called Derbyshire Lane lying in the Parish of Norton in the county of Derby, between the post marked (Put on) and the post marked (Take off) being 513 yards in length. . . . [19]

Another illustration is provided on the Sheffield-Wakefield Road in an order dated Nov. 19, 1759, which reads :

Notice is hereby given that the Surveyors and Barr-keepers employed on this Turnpike Road from Sheffield to Wakefield are strictly ordered by the Trustees thereof to seize all Horses drawing carriages with narrow wheels upon the said Road, above the number allowed by law, and to prosecute all persons offending in that respect.[20]

The method of construction of roads is amply described in the records of several local Trusts.

First, accurate surveys of the intended route were made, and in the Sheffield group the firm of Fairbank was extensively used. They made carefully numbered and coloured plans, noting the owners of all adjacent plots of land, and listing in a book of reference deposited with the Clerk of the Peace, those owners who assented to or disagreed with the proposed road.

Diversions were often made from the original route, sometimes to avoid difficult gradients, sometimes in order to tap a district likely to be profitable, and sometimes merely to suit the convenience of landowners. Negotiations had to be entered into with the owners of property. The following appears in a series of questions put to Counsel in 1759 for an opinion as to the legality of closing certain roads at Sandall in order to monopolise traffic:

In the new schemed road through Sandall . . . some corners of closes are designed to be taken into the road . . . The largest of these corners is part of a close of Mr. Barber's. This Mr. Barber (a staymaker in Wakefield) has a house adjoining the Cock and Bottle, and for the convieniency of this house would like to have the road go close by it. In which if he is not gratified he will be as perverse as possible. He told me if the Commissioners entered into his ground it should be because he could not hinder them. . . .[21]

Another reference to the same sort of argument, and about the same section of the road, appears in a private letter from the agent of the Earl of Strafford, under the date September 27, 1760.

". . . You enquire after the amount of the tolls and the temper of the people about Wakefield. The latter is what it always was— bad, very bad. One comfort they have that as many as please can go round by Okenshaw (a long and very bad way) and come in at Agbridge turnpike. Some actually do this of which I never hear speak but I laugh heartily. Such as were most strenuous for the Cock and Bottle represented it as folly to imagine that any would go so far as the bottom of Sandall Common to save a penny . . . whereas in fact they go five times as far and ten times worse way to save a halfpenny . . . such sordid dogs dwell in this country. . . "[22]

The actual construction was contracted out to surveyors, who could call for statute labour, as is illustrated by this notice dated 1759 :

"In pursuance of an Act of Parliament passed the last Session for repairing the road from Leeds to Sheffield in the county of York, I, James Brook of Sheffield aforesaid, Bricklayer, being duly appointed Surveyor of so much of the said road as lies between Lady's Bridge at Sheffield aforesaid and a place called Hood Hill, otherwise Hood Hollings, do hereby give you notice and require you to give in and deliver to me within seven days from the date hereof, an exact list or account in writing under your hand of the Christian and surname of all and every person and persons in your Township of Brightside Bierley who are by law obliged to do their statute work for the present year, with teams and draughts or otherwise and the number of day's work which each person ought to do on the said road in the said township—and that you do also set forth and specify in such list what each person is respectively chargeable with for and towards the same and herein fail not as you will answer the contrary at your peril" .[23]

Materials were bought or simply taken from unused land in the neighbourhood as is shown in this deed of 1759 :

"We whose hands and seals are hereunder set being appointed trustees ... do elect, nominate and appoint William Robinson of Otley in the county of York, yeoman, and John Robinson of the same, yeoman, surveyors of that District or Division lying between the Wicker in Brightside Bierley and the Rivulet at the north end of a Lane called Sheffield Lane in the Parish of Ecclesfield, and do give unto them full power and authority to dig, take and carry away any gravel, furzed heath, stones, sand, or other materials out of any wast or common, river or brook, of or in any parish, town village or hamblet in or near which the said road or some part of it doth lie. . .".[24]

Where this is not sufficient, authority was given in this deed to dig from anybody's land not being either park or tilled. Amongst the materials locally used are : various sorts of stone, flag, cinders from the local forges, gannister (sometimes from Crookesmoor), "furniss pots" (as used in making Division Street), stakes and rails, lime and cowshair for pointing masonry, gravel, sand, and "Mook" as it is called in some bills for "leading."

Each road was made in a manner similar to that described in a form of contract for the making of the road through Pitsmoor :

"To cast a bed twenty four feet broad betwixt ditch and ditch in the lanes, and thirty feet betwixt ditch and ditch on the commons, to cover the same with stone twenty foot broad, eight inches thick at the edge by eighten inches high in the middle, and the stone to be laid in three coverings : first eight inches of strong stone eight inches thick, second covering six inches of middleing broke stone, and third covering four inches thick of small broke stone, these to be laid on in a circular manner and then to be ribbed or backed up with earth." [25]

It should not be assumed that the new method made the roads in any way perfect. The dirt at the sides of the road tended to slip and frost caused the crust to break. Since the stones used remained loose, ruts were just as prevalent as before. There is no reason to suppose that the local roads were in any way much different from the roads being made throughout the country in this century. Arthur Young, writing ten years after the making of the turnpike of the Tinsley Road, says:

"From Rotherham to Sheffield the road is execrably bad, very stony, and excessively full of holes." [26]

He is, however, no kinder to other Yorkshire roads. He says, 1770 :

"One remark however I should add, which is that those who go to Methley by Pontefract must be extremely fond of seeing houses, or they will not recompense the fatigue of passing such detestable roads. They are full of ruts, whose gaping jaws threaten to swallow up any carriage less than a waggon. It would be no bad precaution to yoke half a score of oxen to your coach to be ready to encounter such quagmires as you will here meet with." [27]

It will be realised that fast travel by "Flying Coach" was not possible till Macadam's method of construction was adopted. This consisted of surfacing the road with a layer not of paving stones but of stones irregularly broken into pieces the size of a fist, which would by the weight of traffic be compressed into a coherent mass. Macadam was consulted by the trustees of the Sheffield and Glossop Road, and his son received the contract for the supervision of the making of that road.

The new method may be contrasted with the old by reference to the following, which is taken from the specification for the alterations to the Chesterfield Road at Highfields. Its date is 1840.

"The Contractor to provide the stone for the formation of the road, which is to be broken to the size not exceeding three inches in diameter, to be spread on the road-ten yards in width and ten inches in depth and after the same is properly consolidated, the hardstone from the old road to be broken so as to pass through a 2¼ inch ring, the same to be spread in two separate coverings, the first being three inches deep and the other two inches deep, the second covering not to be laid on until the first has been worn down firm and level by vehicles passing over it, and in case there should be a deficiency of the old materials, the Contractor to furnish limestone from Middleton Dale . . . The Contractor at all times after each covering of stone, to-keep it level by raking so that it may not become rutted by vehicles passing over it until the same becomes consolidated." [28]

The extent of the improvements effected in the condition of the roads is indicated by the increased use made of them. It is said that Joshua Wright of Mansfield in 1710 started a service by "Stage-waggon" from Sheffield to London. The first coach was run by Samuel Glanville, landlord of "The Angel," from Leeds to London in 1760.

The great advantages offered by the new roads is shown by the numbers of coaches and carriers' carts in service at the end of that century. The Directory of 1787 publishes a list of eleven coaches leaving the town, of which seven were on a daily service; and no fewer than twenty-seven waggons leaving every week or every two or three days, even for places as far away as Exeter, Carlisle, Darlington and the North, Liverpool and Hull.

The Directory of 1821 gives a list of sixteen carriers and thirty-six coaches. Perhaps the decline in the number of the former is accounted for by the increase in the number of coaches, for where speed was required, the coach was used in preference, especially after the rate of carriage was reduced to l|d. a pound. The heavier goods were at the same period being conveyed by canal.

The fares by stage-coach worked out at 2½d. to 3d. a mile "outside" and 4d. to 5d. a mile "inside." By mail-coach they were 4d. to 5d. "outside" and 8d. to l0d. "inside." Typical fares from Sheffield were: to York 11/- and 7/-; to Leeds 5/- and 3/-; to Birmingham 8/- and 6/-; and to London 37/-. Posting by private chaise was necessarily much dearer.

In his Recollections, Lord W. P. Lennox says:

"Ten miles an hour, including stoppages, was about the average posting, and the charge for a pair of horses, post-boys, ostler, and Turnpikes, amounted to about 2/- a mile." [29]

The revenues derived from the tolls are indicated by the statements of the collections which appear in the frequent advertisements published in the local press, inviting attention to the sales of tolls by public auction. Here are a few taken at random from the columns of the Sheffield Iris:

TOLLS TO LET.

(1) Three Lane Ends near Little Sheffield to Sparrowpit Gate;

(2) Guide Post near Barber Fields Cupola to Buxton.

Tolls called Sharrow Moor Head, Ringinglow, Mytham Bridge and Stone Bench Gate.

One year's tolls :

£

Sharrow Moor Head 240

Ringinglow 421

Mytham Bridge 273

Stone Benches 149

(Mar. 30 1798)

Tolls on the road from Derby :

Makeney Bar and Side Gate 87 4 0

Henge Bar 157 13 0

Hallfield Gate Bar 108 10 4

Clay Cross Bar 92 4 8

Birdholme Bar 151 13 0

Stone Gravels Bar 266 7 6

Birchett Bar (for seven months before

Coal Aston) 222 14 6

Healey Bar and Side Gate 391 0 6

Total exclding expenses 1477 7 6

(June 29 1798)

Tolls on the Sheffield- Wakefield Road :

Barnsley Old Mill 435

Hangmanstone Bar 224

Coit Lane Bar 173

Pitsmoor Bar 251

(Sept. 28 1798)

Details of one year's takings at Old Mill Bar from October 1760 to October 1761 were as follows :

Totals for months less salary £1 1s. 0d.

October 1760 ... ... ... 12 11 9 ¾

November ... ... ... 6 15 7 ¼

December ... ... ... 6 11 8 ½

January 1761 ... ... 6 9 8 ¼

(including a bad debt)

February ... ..; ... 6 15 9 ¾

March ... ... ..'. ... 7 1 8 ¾

April ... ... ... ... 7 0 4 ½ -

May ... ... ... '... 13 16 5 ½

June ... ... ... ... 9 17 9 ¼

July ... ... ... ... 10 0 0 ¾

August ... ... ... 9 17 3 ¼

September ... ... ... 9 12 9 ½

October ... ... ... 11 10 10 [30]

Sample daily records kept in manuscript by the same Barkeeper are interesting:

[31]

It will be noted that no stage coaches appear in these lists. The reason is that the proprietors paid an annual composition, and the Barkeeper kept a special account. Later Barkeepers were supplied with huge printed folios with every category of vehicle and animal allotted its proper place.

The list of turnpikes that follows includes the main routes and ignores connecting lanes, and is confined to the period earlier than 1820. The roads are arranged in chronological order of the Acts of Parliament which sanctioned their turnpiking or construction. Of such Acts there are some twenty-two passed between 1739 and 1818 dealing with turnpike undertakings directly affecting the main roads through Sheffield, and not counting the numerous Acts for the enlargement or modification of original schemes.

1. SHEFFIELD-DERBY. Sheffield and Derby, or Duffield Trust. Turnpiked by an Act of 1756.

The original route was London Road, across Meersbrook Park, Derbyshire Lane, across Graves Park, Little Norton, near Coal Aston, to Unstone, Whittington Hill and Whittington Moor to Chesterfield.

In 1795 the route was altered to avoid the steep pull up Derbyshire Lane, Coal Aston and Whittington Moor. The new line followed the modern route in general.

In 1825 a short diversion was made in order to take the road on its present line past Meadow Head.

2. SHEFFIELD-BUXTON, AND -CHAPEL. Sheffield-Buxton and Sheffield-Chapel-en-le-Frith Joint Trusts, 1758.

These roads went to Ringinglow Toll Bar together, by way of Sheffield Moor, Highfields, Sharrow Lane, Psalter Lane and Ringinglow Road. At that point they diverged. The Chapel Branch went over the Cupola to Hathersage, thence to Castleton by the modern line, and then up the Winnats to Sparrowpit and Chapel. The other branch went along Ankirk (or Houndkirk) Road to Fox House, down to Grindleford, up the Sir William, through Hucklow and Tideswell to Buxton.

A diversion was made to avoid the Sir William in 1795 by way of Calver and Stoney Middleton. The modern route to Fox House from Ecclesall via Dore Moor was made in 1812.

3. SHEFFIELD-WAKEFIELD. Sheffield and Wakefield Trust.

Turnpiked by an Act of 1758.

This road followed the ancient route—Nursery, Bridgehouses, Pye Bank, Pitsmoor, to Chapeltown and Barnsley. Diversions were made via Spital Hill and Burngreave in 1835-6. Drake, writing in 1840 about the new Railway Station in Sheffield (at the Wicker), says:

Along the high ground on the left runs the new road to Barnsley. It gradually declines away from the railway in the direction of the old road with which it forms a junction at Pitsmoor Bar. The design of ijs formation was to avoid the tremendous ascent of Pye Bank, which all who have ever left Sheffield by the north road will not fail to remember. [32]

An interesting comment on the state of this road is made in 1829 by James Mills, a surveyor. He writes :

"I cannot doubt that the Trustees of this road . . . will no longer tolerate the existence of the barbarous declivities which disgrace the present Turnpike Road between Sheffield and Barnsley, to the manifest injury of both towns and the general commerce of the country . . . "(He speaks of the)" substitution of a good line of road for an incorrigibly bad one, for it is notorious that the Inns of Sheffield prefer sending their posting by way of Doncaster to avoid the hills on the present Road . . ," [33]

4. SHEFFIELD-BAWTRY. Sheffield-Bawtry Trust, 1759.

This is the road which leads off the Rotherham Road just beyond the Canal Bridge. The Tinsley section followed the present route from the Wicker with the exception of a loop up Spital Hill and to Hall Carr, which was straightened out in 1806.

5. SHEFFIELD-WORKSOP. Attercliffe-Worksop Trust, 1764.

This road diverged from the Tinsley Road at Attercliffe, and went by Worksop Road and Darnall to Handsworth and Aston.

6. SHEFFIELD-BASLOW.

This road is a combination of several roads. The section between Barbrook Mill and Baslow was part of the Chesterfield-Hernstone Lane Head (Tideswell) Trust which was continued by an Act of 1759. The section from Owler Bar to Totley was part of the Greenhill Moor-Hathersage Trust created by an Act of 1781. An Act for making the road between the end of Sharrow Lane and Totley (i.e., Abbeydale Road) was passed in 1802, though the road was not completed till 1821. At this last date the whole road between Sheffield and Baslow was transferred to the care of the Greenhill-Hathersage Trust. The route followed was the modern one.

7. SHEFFIELD-DONCASTER. Tinsley-Doncaster Trust, 1764.

This road joined the Sheffield-Tinsley road at Bawtry Road. It lay almost exactly on the present route. Its maintenance was a matter of concern to the proprietors of the River Dun Company as it led to that point to which the river had been made navigable.

8. SHEFFIELD-PENISTONE-HALIFAX. Sheffield and Halifax Trust, Penistone Division, 1777.

This road led from Shalesmoor along the modern line with the exception of a section which ran through Greno Wood and which the local folk still call "the old coach road." It was diverted through Parson Cross and Barnes Green in 1826.

9. SHEFFIELD-MANSFIELD. Sheffield-Gander Lane Trust. Turnpiked by an Act of 1779.

The route was the modern one—City Road, Intake, Mosbrough, Eckington, Barlborough at Gander Lane and so to Mansfield.

10. SHEFFIELD-FROGGATT. Greenhill Moor-Hathersage Trust, created 1781.

This road went from Greenhill cross-roads via Bradway, Dronfield Woodhouse and Holmesfield to Owler Bar, and then across the moors to the top of Froggatt Edge. It crossed the slope apparently just above the line of railway at Grindleford Station to Hathersage Booth, where it turned sharply down the hill to Hazelford and so to Hathersage.

The southern exit from Hathersage led through Hazelford above the line of wood on the other side of the river until it joined the Sir William. This route was altered to the present line through Fall Cliffe Wood to Grindleford in 1825.

A branch of the Greenhill-Hathersage road was provided in 1781 from Totley to Stoney Middleton—the modern road down Froggatt Edge.

11. SHEFFIELD-LANGSETT. Wadsley-Langsett Trust, 1805.

At this date the road diverged from the Sheffield-Penistone Road at Catchbar Lane. The new road was an extension to the end of Penistone Road near St. Philip's Church, and was made between 1837 and 1840. It followed the modern line through Middlewood, Oughtibridge and Stocksbridge—called by Fairbank "a beautiful and romantic valley." Over the section from Shalesmoor to the bridge at Holme Lane, Fairbank was engaged in litigation in order to get paid for his services.

12. SHEFFIELD-GLOSSOP. Sheffield-Glossop Trust. Turnpiked by an Act of 1818 and opened for traffic in 1821.

Much was hoped for from this road, as it led more directly to Manchester. It was a very expensive undertaking because of the gradients, and the Dukes of Norfolk and Devonshire contributed heavily. The route is the modern one—Crosspool, Rivelin, Moscar and the Snake. A branch was made from Moscar to Langsett—Mortimer's Road.

The foregoing list of new and reorganised routes and roads represents great enterprise and expenditure. Their effect is to be seen in the considerable use of them and in the stimulus thus given to Sheffield industry. Their efficiency is to be observed in the speeding up of transport. This may be illustrated by the times of the coach journeys. When Samuel Glanville of the "Angel" optimistically advertised in 1760 liis intention to run a coach to London, he concluded his announcement with this sentence—

"Performed, if God permit, by John Handforth, etc. . . ." The trip took three days. In 1787 the same journey was done in twenty-six hours, and the last Sheffield Mail did the distance in sixteen hours. The earliest Mail Coaches travelled at six miles an hour, but the speed was increased to twelve in their heyday. In 1836, thirteen coaches were advertised to leave "The Tontine" and "The King's Head" daily.

The coaches and the new Turnpikes were doomed as soon as the North Midland Railway was brought past and northwards of Sheffield.

Dr. Gatty writes their epitaph :

Everyone formerly knew the Tontine Hotel; it was a standing institution of the town. At the Commercial and King's Head Inns the mail and stage-coaches generally changed horses, whilst the Tontine was the great posting house. Twenty horses and five post-boys were always ready when the yard-bell rang, and the call was given "First pair out!" As many as forty pairs of horses have been supplied in one day, by borrowing from other inns, and the highest personages of Europe have been drawn from the shadow of the venerable archway ... on their way to York or Doncaster. At one time the respected host had as many as three hundred horses standing at different stages for changing . . . and when the Midland line was opened as far as Derby, a temporary stimulus was given to the posting business. But when the line was extended past Sheffield to Normanton, the whole posting establishment collapsed at once. Twelve pairs of horses were wanted one day, the last on which there was any demand, for on the morrow the road was forsaken, and the whole stud of the proprietor had to be sold at any price. Thus, in a short while, one of the fine old inns of former times, in the courtyard of which a carriage and four could be easily driven round, came to grief. It was pulled down in 1850 to make room for the present market-house. . . .[34]

Notes

1 Hunter, Hallamshire, p. 153.

2 Goodwin, q. in Sketchley's Directory, 1774, p. 19.

3 Hunter, HallamMre, p. 168. ...

4 Leader, Reminiscences of Sheffield, p. 105.

5 Directory—Sheffield, pub. Robinson, quoting Uoodwin in "Description of Sheffield."

6 Hunter, Hallamshire, p. 154.

7 Directory of Sheffield, 1774.

8 Defoe, Tour through England and Wales, Everyman edn., II, p. 181.

9 Hunter, HaUamshire (1869), p. 334.

10 Ibid., p. 333.

11 Tibbitts Collection, 365/52.

12 Tibbitts Collection, 363/73.

13 Defoe, Tour of England and Wales, II, p. 122.

14 Ibid., p. 122.

15 Leader, Records of the Burgery.

16 Tibbitts Collection, 364/63.

17 Tibbitts Collection, 364/24.

18 Tibbitts Collection, 363/2.

19 Tibbitts Collection, 363/11.

20 Tibbitts Collection, 363/34.

21 Tibbitts Collection, 363/35.

22 Tibbitts Collection, 363/4002.

23 Tibbitts Collection, 363/20.

24 Tibbitts Collection, 363/24.

25 Tibbitts Collection, 363/26.

26 Young, Northern Tour.

27 Ibid.

28 C. P. (Fairbank) 21/54.

29 My Recollections from 1806-1873, Vol. I, p. 119.

30 Tibbitts Collection, 363/43.

31 Tibbitts Collection, 363/43.

32 Drake, Road Book of the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway, 1840.

33 C.P.22, 126

34 Hunter, Hollomshire, p. 199.

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A brilliant read - thanks.

1/2 a horse??? What does that mean?

I'll third that! Facinating stuff. Thanks to Bayleaf and Gramps.

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A brilliant read - thanks.

1/2 a horse??? What does that mean?

Alright you hawk-eyed lot, where's that one? I obviously missed it and still can't find it :blink: lol

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Alright you hawk-eyed lot, where's that one? I obviously missed it and still can't find it :blink:lol

OK, found it, not guilty, it was scanned, not transcribed!

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OK, found it, not guilty, it was scanned, not transcribed!

Right I see. What should it read then Bayleaf.

I thought it must be some term they used for something long forgotten.

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Right I see. What should it read then Bayleaf.

I thought it must be some term they used for something long forgotten.

I think you're probably right vox, along with Wednesday horses and Friday horses. The OCR software gave up trying to format that section, which is why I put it in as a jpeg. As it says, it's an attempt at transcribing what was a handwritten daily record, so it could be an error, or as you suggest, some now archaic term.

Looking at the list of tolls higher up, there are 2 entries

For every horse, mare, etc.. going unladen to

fetch coal, or which shall be laden with

coal, or returning empty

having delivered such lading ... ... ... 0 ½d

For every other horse, mare, etc.

laden or unladen, and not drawing ... ... 1d

Could that be what's referred to as a 1/2 horse?

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I think you're probably right vox, along with Wednesday horses and Friday horses. The OCR software gave up trying to format that section, which is why I put it in as a jpeg. As it says, it's an attempt at transcribing what was a handwritten daily record, so it could be an error, or as you suggest, some now archaic term.

Looking at the list of tolls higher up, there are 2 entries

For every horse, mare, etc.. going unladen to

fetch coal, or which shall be laden with

coal, or returning empty

having delivered such lading ... ... ... 0 ½d

For every other horse, mare, etc.

laden or unladen, and not drawing ... ... 1d

Could that be what's referred to as a 1/2 horse?

That would certainly make sense.

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