Sandbach’s Heritage – April 2026

By Stewart Green

Charging road users to drive on the roads of Cheshire is nothing new as in the 1300’s Paving Grants were issued to look after paving market places or streets in towns (cobbled stones). In 1555 a Highways act was introduced which instructed every adult inhabitant of a parish to work four consecutive days a year on the roads in their area using their own tools, carts and horses. These road works were overseen by the Surveyor of Highways an unpaid local appointee.

In 1654 the idea of charging people to use roads was discussed to finance the repair of the highways which by now were full of ruts due to the rise and use of large wheeled vehicles to transport produce from one town to another. The government decided to introduce a road rate and to restrict the amount of wheeled vehicles by restricting their construction by briefly introducing sixteen inch wheels with wider rims cutting down the pressure on the road surface. However this plan didn’t work and they still caused damage to the road surface.

In 1663 the Road Repair Act was introduced for a section of the Great North Road in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire and introduced the first Turnpikes. The term comes from a military practice when a Pike staff would be placed across to the path of a person and only when identified or given a payment the pike would be turned to allow the person to pass a checkpoint or in the case of Turnpikes would be allowed to travel down the road for a fee.

When Great Britain was created from England, Scotland and Wales in 1706, Parliament was given the job of setting up toll roads in Scotland as well as the areas not covered in England and Wales by individual acts of parliament. These new toll roads were used to pay to maintain roads rather like they are today. Each Road was set up by an individual “Act of Parliament” and by the 1830’s there was about 1,000 trusts set up to manage the checkpoints and over 30,000 miles of road with 8,000 toll gates in the United Kingdom. In 1753 the Toll Road was set up between Span Smithy, Booth Lane (Elton, Sandbach) and Winsford through Middlewich and Stanthorn a length of 12 miles (now the A533 Middlewich Road Via A5018).

In 1788 the road from Span Smithy, Linley Lane (Elton, Sandbach) through Church Lawton to Talk was made into a toll road with 3 main gates over the 8 miles (Now the A533 Middlewich Road Via A5011 and A5 Arclid, Church Lawton to Stoke).

Between 1816 and 1875 when it closed the Nantwich to Wheelock Wharf now the A49 to A5020 was in operation over its 9 miles with 3 gates.

The final toll road in the Sandbach area made by act of Parliament was in 1835 and covered 8 miles from Sandbach to Congleton (Now the A534 Congleton Road) and had 3 main toll gates.

Some of the known Toll gates in the area were situated in the following places. In Sandbach at the Middlewich Road end of Abbey Road, in Wheelock at Crewe Road, opposite the churchyard where the Black and White Toll cottage is still standing. At Crewe Green at the junction of the Crewe and Sydney roads, in Holmes Chapel at London Rd, about 100 yards on the Brereton side. At the Cross-roads at Saltersford on the far side of the River Dane Bridge and finally at Betchton beyond the New Inn on the Newcastle Road and at the Junction of Chells Hill Road. Between 1873 and 1878 most of the trusts were wound up by General Acts of Parliament.

In 1888 the Local Government Act was brought into force putting the responsibility of maintaining roads on County Councils including the Cheshire County Council which in 2009 became Cheshire East and Cheshire West with a joint Highways Department at the start and today Cheshire East sub contracts the work to Ringway Jacobs.

There is now only one Toll Road in Great Britain that of the M6 between Coleshill (Junction 3a) and Wolverhampton (Junction 11A) a total of 27 miles. However there are still a few toll bridges and tunnels including the Blackwall Tunnel in London introduced in April 2025 and a new form of toll “the Congestion Charge” of London and Durham.