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Turnpikes through Reading

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The Bath Turnpike

The Turnpike trusts were set up in the 18C and improved the roads by collecting tolls from those passing the toll gates set on the major roads The Bath Road was not one Turnpike, each place had its own Turnpike Trust which looked after a section of the road. In Reading the Bath Road towards Theale was turned into a Turnpike first in 1714 and had a toll gate at the top of Castle Hill. In 1736 the section of the Bath Road between Twyford and Reading was turnpiked but only after strong opposition from the people for Reading. They were worried that cattle coming to the towns market would be discouraged because each animal would have to have money paid for it to pass the tollgate. The boatmen also were worried because they thought that the Turnpike would take away their trade on the boats. To stop these objections, the turnpike agreed not to set up a toll gate between the Gallows near Sonning and Orts Road in the town. This meant that cattle could still come to market by other routes without paying tolls.

The Turnpike Acts of Parliament sometimes only lasted a certain number of years. The Reading to Theale Turnpike had to be renewed in 1728 and 1746, and at this last time any carts carrying cloth or woollen garments could pass through the gates without tolls. In Reading a new way of working out tolls was tried, with a weighing machine, which was like a small crane, lifting carts into the air to find out how heavy they were.

In 1830 the Toll Gate was moved half a mile west along the road. The Tolls taken at this gate were £1484 per year, while the gate at the other side of Reading, at Twyford, received £1215 per year.

By 1806 there were 17 coaches a day from London to Bath, all passing through Reading, and by 1838 23 departures a day were taking place. The coaches that carried the mail were amongst the fastest. The coach starting from London at 8pm would arrive in Reading at 1.25 in the morning to reach Bath by 9.30am. In the other direction, the 5.30pm mail coach from Bath would arrive at Reading at 1.55 am in the morning and London at 7.00am. It seems probable that the coaches crossed at Reading. To keep the coaches moving at this speed, changes of horses would often take place at inns. In February 1835, there was an accident at the stables in Reading where the Royal Berkshire Hospital now stands. After the last coach had left for the night, the two men in charge locked up the 35 horses in the stables, but must have left a candle still lit. This caught hay on fire, which in turn caught the roof on fire. Local people woke up, and tried to rescue the horses, but all 35 were killed when the roof collapsed.