the toll

CLOSE	No picture of the toll gate or bar have yet been found, perhaps you know different!	The Toll The Rugby and Market Harborough Turnpike Trust operated the road through Clifton. It was started as a Trust in 1801 and at that time only went as far as North Kilworth. Eventually it joined with the Lutterworth to Market Harborough turnpike. The toll gate was positioned at the edge of the village and known as the Clifton Gate and Bar. The Turnpike Trust let toll collection annually to the highest bidder, it was the purchasers responsibility to collect the tolls to cover his investment and to make a profit. The trust used its income from letting to maintain the road. From an advertisement in the Rugby Advertiser of November 1862 it appears that the profit made in 1861 by the tenant of the Clifton Gate and Bar was £181, quite a good living at nearly three times a labourer's wage. We know that the house and cottage near the gate were owned by Robert Patchett aged 38, a freehold grazier, and that he had been the toll keeper around this time. It has not been possible to find an example of the scale of charges, but from a newspaper report of 1852 it is known that it was a shilling for a cart drawn by two horses and loaded with coal. The charges varied depending upon the judgment of the tenant, and were well known locally, but not published. The Trust did not make a profit and we know from the report of a meeting on 15th October 1855 that a hugh debt of £1,119. 3s. 4d. had accumulated over many years. Arrears of interest of £656.6s.0d. was written off and the rate of interest charged was reduced. The Trust was abolished in January 1870. The maintenance of main roads became a County Council responsibility and minor roads were the responsibility of Parish Councils. In November 1878 the gate, chains, bar gate-posts and tools were auctioned off at the Clifton Gate Toll House for £26.6s.6d. The purchaser had to remove the equipment and fill in the holes within two weeks.

No picture of the toll gate or bar have yet been found, perhaps you know different!

The Toll

The Rugby and Market Harborough Turnpike Trust operated the road through Clifton. It was started as a Trust in 1801 and at that time only went as far as North Kilworth. Eventually it joined with the Lutterworth to Market Harborough turnpike. The toll gate was positioned at the edge of the village and known as the Clifton Gate and Bar.

The Turnpike Trust let toll collection annually to the highest bidder, it was the purchasers responsibility to collect the tolls to cover his investment and to make a profit. The trust used its income from letting to maintain the road. From an advertisement in the Rugby Advertiser of November 1862 it appears that the profit made in 1861 by the tenant of the Clifton Gate and Bar was £181, quite a good living at nearly three times a labourer's wage. We know that the house and cottage near the gate were owned by Robert Patchett aged 38, a freehold grazier, and that he had been the toll keeper around this time.

It has not been possible to find an example of the scale of charges, but from a newspaper report of 1852 it is known that it was a shilling for a cart drawn by two horses and loaded with coal. The charges varied depending upon the judgment of the tenant, and were well known locally, but not published.

The Trust did not make a profit and we know from the report of a meeting on 15th October 1855 that a hugh debt of £1,119. 3s. 4d. had accumulated over many years. Arrears of interest of £656.6s.0d. was written off and the rate of interest charged was reduced.

The Trust was abolished in January 1870. The maintenance of main roads became a County Council responsibility and minor roads were the responsibility of Parish Councils. In November 1878 the gate, chains, bar gate-posts and tools were auctioned off at the Clifton Gate Toll House for £26.6s.6d. The purchaser had to remove the equipment and fill in the holes within two weeks.