Description
Turnpike roads – roads on which tolls were levied at turnpike gates – were an important part of the transport economy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Until now, there has been no definitive list or map of the turnpike roads of Devon. Highways marked as main roads on nineteenth-century maps are often assumed to have been turnpike roads, but some of the roads shown in this way were not in fact turnpikes, and there were several turnpike roads that were not marked as such on contemporary maps. The purpose of this book is to identify precisely which roads in Devon were turnpike roads around the year 1840, by drawing together information from Acts of Parliament and from several different sources of map evidence.
The book presents the information under the several turnpike trusts that operated in Devon, arranged alphabetically from Ashburton through to Wiveliscombe. For each turnpike trust, the roads are listed in the order in which they were described in a particular Act of Parliament. Place-names that were used in the act to identify each road are stated, and explanatory remarks identify the more obscure place-names, as well as providing numerous map references and modern A and B numbers to help researchers locate the roads in the modern landscape. The book is illustrated with forty maps which show the county’s turnpike road network in detail and with great clarity. With its thorough references and comprehensive place-name index, The Turnpike Roads of Devon in 1840 will be an essential reference in the history of Devon’s highways.
For more information about the subject, see the Turnpike Roads in Devon page in the website’s Resources area.
