Wiltshire Toll Houses

by Robert Haynes and Ivor Slocombe

Anyone travelling the roads of England will have noticed toll houses, and will perhaps be aware that their history is bound up with that of the roads themselves. When Robert Haynes, retired County Architect, died he was working on comprehensive surveys of milestones and toll houses in Wiltshire. His work on toll houses has been completed and brought to publication by a former colleague, Ivor Slocombe. There may once have been around 200 toll houses in Wiltshire, but many were demolished soon after the abolition of turnpike roads during the 1860s - 1880s, and others have succumbed to later road improvements.

This comprehensive survey draws together pictorial and documentary evidence about the many toll houses which still exist or are known to have existed in the county of Wiltshire. It reveals a rich variety of styles, periods and building materials, and gives insights into the reasons why they were so built by the turnpike trusts during the 18th and 19th centuries - and into their fate on the abolition of the trusts in the 1870s. Fully illustrated with modem and historic photographs, it describes all Wiltshire toll houses still existing (50) or known to have existed (over 70) alongside roads in Wiltshire.  Publication April 2004, paperback (110 pages), price £6.50, ISBN 0-946418-21-7. Available from local booksellers or post-free (in the UK) from the publisher, Hobnob Press.  Proceeds from sales will support the Wiltshire Buildings Record.  Order form below.
To: Hobnob Press, PO Box 1838, East Knoyle, Salisbury, Wilts. SP3 6FA

Please send me ...... copies of Wiltshire Toll Houses by Robert Haynes and Ivor Slocombe, at £6.50 per copy (postage/delivery free).  I enclose my cheque (payable to Hobnob Press) for £ ..........

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