Barrowby Until Now   home page   what's new?   request updates please mention Barrowby   contact     Barrowby only WWW   This site sponsored by   Heart of Albion

The Toll Bar Look on older maps of Barrowby and what is now called 'Rectory Lane' is shown as 'Toll Bar Lane'. Not because there was a toll bar along it, but because it was the route from the village to a toll bar (or gate) on the Grantham to Nottingham road (now the A52).   The approximate location of the toll bar (shown in red, top right). Presumably the small building on the north-east side of the Grantham to Nottingham road was erected as the toll keeper's cottage.   When the A52 was dualled the second (eastbound) carriageway was added to the north-east of the original road.   A painting by Sir Richard Digby Neave (1793–1868) showing a toll gate. The date and location are not known but most probably Essex. But there is an uncanny resemblance to Barrowby, simply because of the windmill in close proximity to the toll house. Presumably the dark mound in the foreground is fresh 'tarmacadam' waiting to be used for repairs. This toll bar would have been created after the Grantham to Nottingham turnpike Act was passed in 1729. The turnpiking of the Grantham to Melton road (now the A607) seems not to have commenced until after 1758. The improvements to road-making instigated by John Loudon McAdam (1756–1836) were among the improvements which made turnpike roads much easier for coaches and other vehicles. Turnpikes were profitable, although steadily the money was syphoned off by speculators who bid at auctions for the tolls thereby starving the roads of money needed for maintenance. And then came the railways and the turnpikes no longer generated enough money for repairs. The income from the 'Barrowby Bar' alone between 1826 and 1833 averaged roughly £140 pounds a year (about £14,000 at today's values). More details of the income and expenditure relating to the toll road can be found in Cryer 1976 p57. The railway era saw a branch line from Grantham to Nottingham – the 'Ambergate, Nottingham, Boston and Eastern Junction Railway', as it was originally called – opening in 1850. As its route runs almost parallel to what is now the A52 this would have caused a dramatic drop in the number of vehicles using the road. The outcome of railways depriving turnpikes of income was a national problem. Parliament steadily abolished turnpike trusts and transferred the cost of mainentance to the district (or the county in the case of bridges). The Act abolishing the Grantham to Melton turnpike trust was passed in 1873 and the Grantham to Nottingham trust in 1876. The house and gate to the north of Barrowby were auctioned early in 1877 (Cryer 1976 p57). After nearly 150 years the toll bar was no more, except as the name of the lane. When did it change to Rectory Lane? If anyone knows when the name changed from Toll Bar Lane to Rectory Lane then please email me:– bobtrubs@indigogroup.co.uk. souces Nottinghamshire History - roads Nottingham–Grantham line If you think I've got something wrong – or can add additional information or photographs – then please email me:– bobtrubs@indigogroup.co.uk. Back to top of this page   This website does not gather or store any visitor information. Copyright Bob Trubshaw 2021–2022–2022 No unauthorised copying or reproduction except if all following conditions apply: a: Copy is complete (including this copyright statement). b: No changes are made. c: No charge is made. www.hoap.co.uk/barrowby

what's new? Articles about Barrowby Barrowby's location and geology summary of prehistoric Barrowby summary of Roman Barrowby Anglo-Saxons summary of Anglo-Saxon Barrowby place-names Winnibriggs and Threo Domesday Book eleventh century water mills Kesteven moot site Medieval summary of medieval Barrowby origins of All Saints church moated sites the decline of Casthorpe Newbo Abbey Barrowby's Rectory the Conduit to Grantham Sewstern Lane or The Drift Seventeenth and eighteenth centuries summary of early modern Barrowby Dr Thomas Hurst Sir John Thorold John Manners, the Marquess of Granby Charnwood slates the toll bar Enclosure of Barrowby 1762 village green a.k.a. Stevens Gutter Grantham Canal Nineteenth century summary of nineteenth century Barrowby restoration of the parish church schools Methodist chapels Reading Room windmills pinfold Richard Hornsby nineteenth and twentieth century population Twentieth century summary of twentieth century Barrowby ironstone quarrying two World Wars Memorial Hall Barrowby's Listed buildings Barrowby's modern housing guided walks in and around Barrowby there's more could be said... bibliography index of surnames in Cryer 1979 Articles and web links for nearby places rare seventeenth fonts at Muston, Bottesford and Orston from Project Gargoyle Newsletter 2020 Ironstone quarries of Leicestershire YouTube video Wyville's wells Harston's Anglo-Saxon carvings Bottesford's effigies Grantham Canal Society The Grantham Canal All you need to know – and more – from Wikipedia Croxton Kerrial manor house excavations photos and brief details from Leicester Mercury. By 2021 the remains had been consolidated and there are annual open days. Grantham Archaeology Group Bottesford History Group Grantham Civic Society Grantham Museum Heritage Lincolnshire