The Keighley and Kendal Turnpike was a road built in 1753 by a turnpike trust between Keighley in the West Riding of Yorkshire and Kendal in Westmorland, England. The primary instigators were in Settle. The road followed a modified ancient route through Craven. It necessitated bridge widening, reorientation in some of the towns it passed and the relocation of inns and stables. The road was of great benefit to commerce in the northwest but proved a financial loss as the cost of repairing wear caused by heavy traffic was underestimated. The trust's records were lost when it closed.
Old roads Ancient highways were rights of way where the only road repair was removing obstructions. In some places on soft ground a raised causeway of stones one metre wide was built for pack horses. The only wide roads were drovers' roads along hilltops. All roads crossed rivers at right angles wherever the valley was narrowest. The hilly road from Knaresborough brought more trade to Settle than the valley track from Keighley.OCR copy by North Craven Historical Research Accessed 30 September 2012 Travellers went on horseback or on foot: the principal exports were cattle and the imports came on packhorses. Bulk materials like hay, peat or rushes were dragged on sledges by oxen even when there was no snow.
The feudal right for towns to hold markets brought merchants and guilds to see value in good roads. Although common carriers' carts began carrying merchandise they were not seen for a long time north of York or west of Exeter. In these distant parts all goods were carried by trains of packhorses.Introduction To The Main Roads of Kendale British Historyac.uk. Accessed 30 September 2012
Proposals The commercial advantage in building a new road through Craven was presented in a Settle broadsheet ca 1750: "The Woollen Manufacture has of late years been carried on and is daily increasing in Craven, for which it is better situated in every respect (save the scarcity of Coal) than any other part of the Country. Good Roads wou’d lower the Price of Coal at least one‐Third, this wou’d be a prodigious advantage to all the inhabitants, and such an encouragement to that Branch of Trade as wou’d render it General, by this means the Country wou’d become Populous and consequently the Value of Land greatly increased ... When the Roads are effectually repaired Goods may be conveyed from one Place to another in Carriages with less than half the Number of Horses now employed in carrying Packs and consequently at half the Expence."
Landowners with farm carts and private carriages were influential in obtaining the best surface possible. The proposed turnpike was in length and expected to earn a yearly income of £1,005 15s. 6d. sufficient for its repair.Pamphlets and Tracts, 213, i, 2 (60–62) the British Museum Yorkshire section of 40 3/4 miles could be constructed by 1,648 men with 744 carts; and the Lancashire/Westmorland section of 12¼ miles by 205 men with 133 carts.
Trust
In 1753 the campaign was successful and the Keighley and Kendal Turnpike Road Trust (KKTR) was founded in the 26th year of King George II by an act of Parliament, the (26 Geo. 2. c. 86):
More than 500 local residents were appointed trustees to carry out the necessary works and gave them power to erect turnpike gates and toll houses, levy tolls, purchase land, and administer the working of the road.
In 1778 a second act of Parliament, the (18 Geo. 3. c. 113) separated the Yorkshire portion of the road from the rest; in 1790 a third act of Parliament, the (30 Geo. 3. c. 99) revised the tolls and certain exemptions were abolished. The life of the trust was extended by further acts of Parliament, the (4 Geo. 4. c. xlix), and the (18 & 19 Vict. c. cliv).
The trustees' qualification was the possession of land of the annual value of £100, or property worth £3,000. They were forbidden to make any profit out of the road. They never all congregated but met in local committees with a minimum of seven attendees. The trust's minute book shows that most interest in the road came from Settle. The only active trustee of Keighley was Josias Morley, attorney. A number of wealthy men advanced money on the security of the tolls. Mr. Cripps advanced more than £5,000 between 1753 and 1756. The tolls would eventually have satisfied the creditors but the trustees, full of energy and public spirit, at once embarked on many extra improvements financed by borrowing on the security of future tolls.
Toll charges
The first act of Parliament fixed the maximum toll for travellers passing from end to end. Because there were initially five toll bars the amount taken at any one bar was not to exceed one fifth of the total: Coach drawn by 6 horses or more, seven shillings and sixpence; and drawn by 4, five shillings; drawn by 2, three shillings and fourpence; drawn by 1 two shillings. Wagon or cart drawn by 6 beasts of draught, twenty shillings; by 5 or 4, five shillings; drawn by 3 or 2, three shillings and fourpence; drawn by 1, one shilling and sixpence. Horse or mule, not drawing, five pence each. Drove of cattle two shillings per score. Drove of calves hogs or sheep one shilling per score. Foot travellers free. There were many exceptions to placate various interests. No tolls were charged on the carriage of fuel, building materials or manure; on corn taken to the cornmill; on cloth or wool taken to a fulling mill, or on livestock going to water. No tolls were charged to residents going to church on Sundays, to the funeral of a neighbour or to vote at an election, or to the Royal Mail.
Engineering In 1753 the Settle Trustees appointed Joshus Parsons, stone mason to build the road up Brayshaw Scar "Cast 7 yards wide between the ditches, and well and equally formed in a turnpike like manner, and sufficiently raised when the grounds are low or soft; low places to be raised as much as possible and high places to be taken down to make road as near as can be level, and no bank to ascend more than five inches in the yard. . . . He is to keep the road in good condition for one whole year. All to be done for £105 per measured mile."
In 1754 they made a contract with John Birtwhistle of Skipton to build a road from Settle to Long Preston at 11s. 9d. per rod (£28 per mile) "to be stoned 16 inch thick" but it was reported in 1758 to be "too narrow, rarely exceeding five yards".
It was initially agreed that the standard width of the turnpike road would be 7 yards, of which 5 yards were to be metalled. In 1770 part of a highway in Settle was widened to ten yards. In 1778 near Ingleton part of the road is recorded as being 12 yards wide.
Bridges The medieval bridges at Kildwick and Settle were widened to accommodate the turnpike traffic. Their undersides show the older portion with ribbed arches distinct from the new. Before widening, Settle Bridge was only 10 feet wide including the parapet.
Toll bars Initially there were five toll bars on the turnpike: Steeton Bank, Holme Bridge, Long Preston Bridge, Clapham and Kirkby Lonsdale. But by 1840 there were seven gates.
In 1758 a meeting at Skipton decided to erect a sixth toll gate at Settle Bridge. It proved unprofitable as it was easily avoided by using Kendalman’s Ford, or Helwith Bridge, or going via Stainforth, and was removed in 1778. Locals made a good living by guiding travellers round the bars so many gates were repositioned in 1823.
In 1833 at the five gates between Ingleton and Skipton the takings per year were:- Greet Bridge Gate (Ingleton) £324 Clapham Gate £452 Runley Bridge Gate (Long Preston) £486 Hellifield Gate £474 Holme Bridge Gate £349.
Attempts were frequently made to evade payment of tolls: in 1756 John Scot of Keighley unloaded his cart before passing through to reduce the toll; in 1757 William Smith broke open the bar at Steeton and in 1758 Mr. Jefferson rode through the fields to avoid payment. It was found the best location for securing tolls was at a river bridge. In many towns local residents made a profit out of guiding strangers across the old ford.
Some gate keepers were suspected of dishonesty as it was difficult to check their takings so by 1758 they were no longer employed by the trustees but each gate was let at a fixed rent. In later years they were let to one contractor e.g., Messrs. Bowers of Hunslet.
The rise of railway transport caused revenues to fall considerably halting improving schemes. The K&KR Trust was a commercial failure having incurred debts of nearly £34,000.
Losses
By 1827 most of the road was completed and the trust was in debt by £34,000. A key problem proved to be miscalculation of the cost of maintaining the road. In 1762 the trust allotted only £20 a year for 17 miles between Keighley and Skipton. Nobody foresaw the wear and tear caused by the increase of traffic. Royal Mail coaches paid no tolls yet "these machines from their great weight and from the speed with which they are driven do amazing damage to the roads over which they pass, and will soon either occasion a bankruptcy in some districts or an increase in the rate of tolls”
In 1877 instructions were given "that the gates must be taken off their hinges at 12 o' clock of 1 November and put aside and sold as soon as possible". The investors received on average only 54% of the money they had advanced. Most of the capital had come from the northwest end of the road.
By the Highways and Locomotives (Amendment) Act 1878 (41 & 42 Vict. c. 77), Parliament abolished the principle of turnpikes and when the trusts fell due handed the roads to quarter sessions with power to levy rates on the whole county for their maintenance, supplementing them by a grant from the exchequer. The Local Government Act 1888 allowed the newly created county councils to manage the roads transferred to them.
Gains Before the turnpike about 90 pack horses continuously worked the route from Kendal through Yorkshire. Their panniers were wicker hampers to carry local manufactures and necessities. The cost of this form of transportation was almost prohibitive. Coal was seldom transported far from coastal harbours. When the turnpike opened pack-horses gave way to crude carts with revolving axles. Post-chaises were introduced to Kendal in 1754, and the first stage waggon in 1757. Staging meant maintaining speed by frequent changes of horses. Many inns became posting houses that kept horses to let for the next stage at 1s. to 1s. 6d. per mile, returning with the next party coming the reverse way. When room permitted, carrier waggons were used by people who could not afford to travel on horseback. The first passenger stagecoaches arrived in Westmorland in 1763. In 1786 the Mail Coach began to run regularly. In the early 1800s the Union coach ran from Kendal to Keighley each way on alternate days. By 1840 there were daily services from Kendal to Skipton and Kirkby Lonsdale. Wealthier travellers hired postchaises or had their own vehicles.
Changes in the towns
Keighley Keighley's industries were dependent on the effective transportation for incoming coal,Keighley Town Center Conservation Area Assessment, Transportation, Planning and Design Department, The City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council. Accessed 3 December 2012 supplies and materials and outgoing textiles and textile machinery. In 1782 the route out of Keighley by Spring Gardens Lane – Hollins Lane – Hollins Bank Lane was superseded by a new road: Bar House Lane – Keighley Road, the B6265. In 1786 North Street was created and from its south end the Union coach departed from The Devonshire Arms on Church Street.
Keighley became an intersection with other turnpikes including the Two Laws Toller and Haworth and Blue Bell Trust Turnpike (1755) from Bradford to Colne; the Bradford to Keighley turnpike (1814); and the Keighley—Halifax turnpike.
Steeton