Exploring GB

This Grade II listed toll house, built in Gothic revival style, is a remarkable survivor in Chard, Somerset.

Built in 1839, this beautiful structure on the A30, Snowdon Hill has survived for almost 200 years, and it still stands today.

It was formally a toll house, and the keepers' job was to collect tolls from those who passed by.

The octagonal shape and placement of the windows meant that the collector of the tolls would not miss anyone that passed by.

The structure is built from local stone and has arched windows and a heavy timber door which sits beneat a parth thatch and part tiled proof.

The surroundings of the cottage is beautiful - you can see countryside for miles either side of the house.

In 1840, according to the Turnpike Returns in Parliamentary Papers, there were more than 5,000 tollhouses operating in England.

These were sold off in the 1880s, when the turnpikes were closed.

Many were demolished but several hundred have survived for residential or other use, with distinctive features of the old tollhouses still visible.

In recent years, this structure in Chard has been used as a holiday cottage - and a couple of years ago, it went on sale for £170,000.

Accommodation comprises, in brief: Entrance/utility, kitchen/dining room, sitting room, bathroom, two bedrooms, off road parking and charming garden orchard.

Early turnpikes had wooden gates, but those built in the 19th century often had gates made of wrought iron.

The gates were often at points where it was least likely that horse riders or horse drawn vehicles could avoid paying the toll e.g. bridges and crossroads.

They were usually located outside urban areas to avoid charging local businesses.

Early toll houses were built in the same style as local cottages in the area but by the 19th century a distinctive style evolved.

Many toll houses resembled the lodges built at the entrance to large estates and those built in the 1820s had polygonal fronts, which gave the toll collectors good views up and down the roads.

Toll houses were usually built close to the road and many of them had porches, which jutted out into the road.

On major roads grander toll houses were built e.g. with castellations on them to impress wealthy travellers.

The isolated location of most toll houses meant that they were vulnerable to attack by thieves and highwaymen.

Therefore the windows often had shutters and/or bars on them and the houses also had built-in safes.

Toll houses were often built to a higher standard that most of the local vernacular cottages, in order to attract honest and reliable toll collectors.

The turnpike road network reached its greatest extent in the 1840s when there were over 20,000 miles of roads controlled by over 1,000 trusts.

Traffic on the turnpike roads declined from the 1840s as the railway network developed.

Most turnpike trusts were wound up in the 1870s and the toll houses were sold off.

Some became commercial buildings such as pubs and post offices, but most became residential dwellings.

The last turnpike trust to be wound up was one on Anglesey in 1895.

Responsibility for the roads was taken over by Highway Boards and later County Councils.

If you’d like to visit this former toll house in Chard, it lies just 14 miles away from the World Heritage Jurassic Coast at Lyme Regis and is only five miles from the A303 and 14 miles from the M5 motorway in Taunton.

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