and whilst having a few JD and coke over the festive season the father in law was talking old times and he mentioned something about a toll that used to be charged for using ford hill? i have had a goo aroung the net but nothing has been found is this true or are his marbles going ... he is 72
Same age as me; probably his marbles rolled down Ford Hill. I'm lucky, I live on the flat. I've never heard about a toll. None of the maps I have, back to 1882, show a toll gate either. Thing is, if he's like me, his memories of his youth are probably clearer than those of last week.
The c1875 OS map shows "TP" on Upton Road at the junction with Noctorum Lane. The OS website ( link ) shows that TP can be either Telegraph Pole or Turnpike. Here, TP will be a turnpike (not a series of telegraph poles). I don't have a date for the ending of turnpike roads locally, but it will cetainly have been before his time. He must have been told about the toll road by an elder.
What was to become Ford Road/Upton Road from Upton was a turnpike in the early part of the 19th Century, however at that time Ford Hill as such didn't exist, the road followed the route of the thermopylae pass. I don't know when the Turnpike was closed (yet), but it seems to have gone by the end of the century.
Hi uptoncx, Bryant's 1831 map shows Thermopylae as the only route. The 1842 tithe map shows Thermopylae as 'Old Road' and Upton Road as 'New Road'. Is it possible that building the new road with its gentler gradient was a requirement imposed on the turnpike trust before they could charge a toll?
Well spotted, Greasby_lad; I'd missed the T.P. on my 1882 map, but it's there. Uptoncx; do you mean that the old road was a turnpike before the new Ford Hill was built? Here's the tithe map showing Old & New roads, with the old following the Thermopylae path. Interesting that it also shows a loop of road/track starting where the turnpike is & joining the Thermopylae track where Vyner Rd. South now crosses over Thermopylae. This isn't shown on the 1875 O.S.map, nor on my 1882.
thanks for your research so is he right? and you may be right about it being before his time . It fascinates me all this local history that i never knew about ....... keep up the good work
He was certainly right about there having been a toll on this road, but he would have been born in 1937/38 and the road would have been dis-turnpiked before then (though I can't be specific with a date for this). For a little more general information see Wirral Turnpikes
Just been looking at my Ordnance Survey Old Series map 1840-43 (Cassini sheet 108). This shows no turnpike there, although it shows a couple of T.G. (Toll Gate) elsewhere on the map. There's one on Old Chester Rd., near the bottom of Well Lane for instance. Interesting that it's not on this map but is on the later one.
I'm lucky, I live on the flat. I've never heard about a toll. None of the maps I have, back to 1882, show a toll gate either. Thing is, if he's like me, his memories of his youth are probably clearer than those of last week.
