How the cost of the Buxton Road turnpike soared

10:39am Friday 18th January 2008

THINKING I had said goodbye to turnpike roads before my festive season's articles, I now find that I must return to them, if only for a couple more articles.

To begin with I was surprised at the interest shown by readers, and one in particular had a query. Actually it was one which I was hoping would not arise, because when I wrote the article I knew of the anomaly, but did not know the answer myself. Fortunately a chance remark by one of my history associates, Mark, and provision of maps by another, Philip, seems to have brought to light an explanation, which I can now relate.

The question arose about the Buxton Road turnpike, which should have been set up just below the Shakespeare Inn (now Shakespeare House) where the new and old roads from Buxton converge. And it is shown there in the Historical Atlas of Cheshire, but other maps from 1838 clearly show it to be situated further down Buxton Road, before the canal bridge between Black Road and Barracks Lane. There is, of course, Toll Bar Avenue in that area, just off Black Road.

The new turnpike road from Macclefield to Buxton was begun in 1821 and completed on July 23, 1823. The man in charge of construction was one of the famous Mr McAdam's engineers and surveyors, named Pearson. Several hundred men started the section comprising the One House to Walker Barn during the first week, and at the same time a team began another section of the road at the Buxton end.

When completed it was carefully examined by chief officials' and declared fit for traffic. However, all was not well. The work was so badly done that in what appears to have been a short period of time the road had to be dug up and re-laid, and instead of the original cost of £2,000 the final result was £12,000, which had to be paid for through tolls!

It was not until 1852, when the original Buxton Road Act came up for renewal, that the full story began to emerge because of opposition from many Macclesfield inhabitants. They elected a Mr Smythers to be their representative and spokesman. By this time the sum outstanding now included interest and had reached £23,000. The suggestion was that the debt should have been paid off in approximately 20 years, which would indicate that the road had been remade around 1830-32.

Smythers pointed out to a Parliamentary committee that two toll gates were actually inside the borough boundaries, one on the west of the town near Broken Cross, and the other on the east, which was the one on Buxton Road. This was in direct contravention of clause 30 in the Towns Amendment Act, which prohibited any tolls being taken within the limits of any borough. As the town had expanded, many more people were living just beyond these toll gates, and they should not have been allowed in the first place. The residents in those areas now wanted the gates removing.

The proceedings firstly concentrated on the gate at Broken Cross, and then moved to the Buxton Road turnpike.

The defence spokesman said that the trustees had had difficulties letting the Buxton Road tolls and were collecting them themselves. The annual income from Broken Cross was £190 a year, and Black Road £80 a year. This, they calculated, would clear the debt in 21 years, but if the gates were to be removed it would never be paid off.

Many of the original investors, who were now creditors, were respectable organisations, some of which were charities, and it would not be fair to them to have any reduction of income.

The chairman of the committee said there had to be a compromise and the room was cleared while the matter was debated. The chairman said a decision would be made the following morning. The Speaker of the House of Commons had recalled them, so an adjournment was made until noon the following day.

(To be continued)

Editors Choice