Crick History Notes 49 Early Crick Roads - Part 2 Turnpike Roads and after

I explained in Part 1 how I walked down Church Street and stood in the middle of the road where it joins Main Road and looked at Northgate House. I pondered about the time when Northgate House was a coaching inn and the Main Road was a turnpike road. We pick up the story at the time the turnpike through Crick was established in the mid 1700s. In 1801 there were about 200 dwellings in Crick, mainly built of stone and thatch. There is no doubt that the turnpike road helped to bring prosperity and growth to the village. However, things were about to change. After four years in the making the canal was opened in 1814. The coming of the canal at Crick can be compared to the opening of the M1 motorway in 1959. The canal provided not only a fast means of transport for people and goods, but opportunities for trade, and services expanded. With the canal came a surge of building with brick in the village – the tunnel alone required 2 million bricks, supplied by the village brick works. There then followed a period of economic change. The depression after the Napoleonic Wars meant that there were plenty of local bricks and cheap coal. As the economy recovered brick built houses became popular and new or rebuilt houses emulated the Georgian style. The spread of coal burning heating saw the introduction of proper bedrooms and warm houses. This was down to the success of the canal. These new dangers caused the turnpike Trustees to introduce a system of annual auctions of the tolls from 1834 onward, to cover their own risk – and for the next 35 years the turnpike system continued to limp along. From the Northampton Mercury – 6th June 1835 – “The TOLLS at the toll gates ……. will be LET by AUCTION to the best bidder, at the Crown Inn, West Haddon, on Friday 10th July, at eleven o'clock; which several tolls were let the last year at the sums following:—Hillmorton Gate, £169; West Haddon Gate (except tolls from the parishioners of West Haddon, and tolls payable by the parishioners and occupiers of land in Crick and Winwick, at a Side Gate near Crick Wold), at £153; and Duston Gate, at £342 above the expenses of collecting them, and will be separately put up at those sums for the term of one year, to commence on 1st September.” However for the turnpike, worse was still to come. In 1821 an Act was passed for the Stockton and Darlington Railway. It went unnoticed in this area at the time, but it was the distant tolling of a bell destined to ring in change throughout Britain – and nowhere was more affected than Rugby. By 1831 plans were afoot to construct a railway from London to Birmingham, which provoked a further frightened response from the turnpike owners. After all the railway had the potential to move more people and goods more quickly than the turnpike or canal and it could do so to a timetable. The Crick and Kilsby Railway Station was opened to freight trains in August 1881 – see History Notes 46. We see here the beginning of the end of the turnpike era, with the turnpike trade already badly damaged by the arrival of canal trade, and now threatened even further by the impending dawn of the railway age. The turnpike system began to fall apart due to the steadily decreasing returns to its investors – by the late 1860s returns were typically down by 30-50% on what they had been in the 1830s. Many turnpike tolls had already been mortgaged and were in debt -- and now the mortgagers realised that unless they foreclosed the mortgage immediately they would lose their money entirely. From the Northampton Mercury – 8th October 1870 – we have the recorded sale of the turnpike assets. “Sale of Toll Gates, &c—On Monday last a sale of a novel character took place at the Crown Inn, West Haddon. On 1st November next the trustees of Northampton and Dunchurch turnpike road will cease to have any control over the road, and on Monday last they disposed of all the toll houses, gates, rails, etc. The following is a return of the day's sale:—Lots 1-4, the Hillmorton gate and Kilsby side gate, comprising 4 gates, 12 posts, 140 feet of rails, one wood pump, and a brick and slated cottage with new kitchen range, were bought by Mr. Billington of Hillmorton for £20-10s. Lots 5-8, the Hillmorton Wharf gate, were bought by the same gentleman for £12-2s, comprising 4 gates, 11 posts, outbuilding, and a good house. The Crick Wold gate lots were divided; Mr. Collier of Duston bought 3 gates and 11 posts and rails for £4-3s., and the brick and slated house and outbuildings were bought for £12 by Mr. Mawby of Crick. The Buckby Folly gate had three purchasers. One lot, consisting of 3 gates, 8 posts, and 90 feet of rails, was bought by Mr Collier for £3; four posts, 2 gates, a piece of fencing, and a good lead pump, were bought by Mr. Newitt for £2-10s.; and the brick and slated house with outbuildings was bought for £11 by Mr. Johnson. Lot 15, the bar and mound across the road leading to Dallington mill, was bought by Mr. Collier for £1-12s.; and the Duston Gate, consisting of 3 gates, 3 posts, and a stone-built and tiled house with outbuildings, was bought by Mr. Collier for £14-10s.” The Local Government Act of 1888 created county councils and gave them the responsibility for maintaining our county wide roads. The turnpike roads had laid the foundation of what today are called ”A” roads – the roads linking our main centres of industry and commerce. In the 19th century bulk goods such as coal were transported to Crick Wharf then distributed by road by local “carriers” (using horse and cart). This was followed in the 20th century by rail distribution of bulk goods coming into and out of the goods yards at Crick and Rugby railway stations. Today we have the rail-port at DIRFT and the road system enables the local distribution of goods, such as at the TESCO warehouse. The historical heritage of the turnpike is still evident in the Main Road, at the Red Lion and the Shoulder of Mutton (now a private house on the corner with High Street). The high entrances allowed a laden coach to pass and the travellers to alight and enter the hostelry for refreshments while the horses were changed in the stables at the rear. The legacy and success of our section of the Northampton to Dunchurch turnpike (A428) was evident, prior to the by-pass, by the heavy traffic in the centre of the village. The by-pass was opened in 2004 (as Chairman of the Parish Council at the time, I cut the ribbon!) and since then, traffic flow through the centre of the village has decreased. There has been a corresponding increase in vehicles parked on the roadside, but that’s another problem!

Jim Goodger Crick History Society www.westnorthantshistory.co.uk/crick