Sparrows Herne Turnpike Road from

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

to Aylesbury was an 18th-century English

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or ''Toll (fee), toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically ...

passing through

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

and

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a new ...

. The route was approximately that of the original

A41 road The A41 is a trunk road between London and Birkenhead, England. Now in parts replaced by motorways, it passes through or near Watford, Kings Langley, Hemel Hempstead, Aylesbury, Bicester, Solihull, Birmingham, West Bromwich, Wolverhampton, ...

; the

Edgware Road Edgware Road is a major road in London, England. The route originated as part of Roman Watling Street and, unusually in London, it runs for 10 miles in an almost perfectly straight line. Forming part of the modern A5 road, Edgware Road undergoes ...

, through Watford, Kings Langley, Apsley, the

Boxmoor Boxmoor is part of Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire. It is within the district of Dacorum and comprises mainly 19th-century housing and meadowland, with transport links from London to the Midlands. At the 2011 Census, the population of Boxmoor wa ...

area of Hemel Hempstead,

Berkhamsted Berkhamsted ( ) is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the Bulbourne valley, north-west of London. The town is a civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum which is based in the neighbouring large new town ...

Northchurch Northchurch is a village and civil parish in the Bulbourne valley in the county of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. It lies between the towns of Berkhamsted and Tring. Situated on the Roman road Akeman Street, a major Roman villa dating fr ...

, Cow Roast and

Tring Tring is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Dacorum, Hertfordshire, England. It is situated in a gap passing through the Chiltern Hills, classed as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, from Central London. Tring is linked to ...

. Much of this part is now numbered the A4251 road. It linked in with other turnpikes to the north forming a route to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

. The

turnpike trust Turnpike trusts were bodies set up by individual acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal roads in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries. At the peak, in the 1830s, ...

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

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

s until 1872, when it passed to the route's various parishes and highway boards to maintain and the tolls were removed.

Description

The original turnpike gates were: *Watford Gate at the bottom of Chalk Hill. *Ridge Lane Gate on the north side of

. *New Ground Gate just to the south of

near New Ground Farm, *Veeches Farm Gate, west of

Aston Clinton Aston Clinton is a historic village and civil parish in the Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. The village lies at the foot of the Chiltern Hills, between the Wendover and Aylesbury arms of the Grand Union Canal. Surrounding towns i ...

– this was moved to Aylesbury in 1827 after the road was extended. *The top of Tring Hill in 1860. 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.

References

*Humphreys, A. L. 'Records of Turnpike Trusts : Sparrows Herne'. in Notes and Queries, 180 (1941), 211-13. *Littlefair, K. The Life of the Sparrows Herne Turnpike Trust 1762–1873 (1968 Dissertation, University of Exeter)

External links

Transport
At Watford History
Edgware
At British Online History
The Chiltern Canal Corridor
Castle Wharf project Berkhamsted. Accessed April 2007

''Bowles's Post Chaise Companion'', 1782. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sparrows Herne Turnpike Turnpike roads in the United Kingdom Transport in Hertfordshire History of Hertfordshire Dacorum