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The History of Roads in
Cheshire
A
series of six talks by Dr Keith Lawrence
Wednesdays
at 3pm, November 4 to December 9
Due to demand for tickets, people who have booked for the whole
series will be given priority. Anyone turning up "on spec" can pay
on the door - if space permits.
No
guarantees. Seats cannot be reserved for individual talks.
Roman Roads
November 4
Roman
Roads of Cheshire
November 11
Post-Roman Roads
November 18
When the
Romans left Britain, they left a substantial road network. This talk
will cover the period from about 400AD to the beginning of the turnpike
trusts in 1663. The content of the talk will cover a wide range of
subjects from King Belinus to Saltways and will introduce the roads maps
of Gough and Ogiliby. We will see the foundations of the modern roads
system in development over 400 years ago.
Parish
Roads System in Cheshire
November 25
While there
had been a local responsibility for the maintenance of bridges since the
Norman period under ‘Trinoda necessitas’, it wasn’t until 1556 that
there was much attention to roads. Under this, and subsequent,
legislation local responsibility for roads was firmly established under
the remit of the parish, supervised by the Justices of the Peace. Each
year, a "Surveyor of Roads" was chosen from the land-owning parishioners
and he commanded the labour of the rest of the parish. Local examples of
the problems associated with this system will illustrate why these
failures led to the development of the Turnpike Trust.
Turnpike
Roads of Cheshire
December 2
From the
first "Justice Trust", set up in 1705, the talk will describe the
gradual growth and subsequent decline of the turnpike trusts in
Cheshire. The initial trusts in England involved the main London roads,
followed by a local in-fill around the major towns. These trusts tended
to just improve existing roads and it was really only from the 1800s
that re-aligned and new roads were built.
Roads and
Traffic December 9
When each
village was a self-contained entity, there was little traffic beyond
local markets and church. Goods were carried on people’s backs and on
packhorses – carts and carriages were rarely seen. However, even in the
medieval period there was still long-distance movement of people. This
talk will explore the legislation to protect the roads from the traffic,
the impact of the railways, and how the bicycle and the car provided
renewed interest in roads.
Doctor
Keith Lawrence
Dr Lawrence started researching the history of roads in the mid
1970s while a volunteer with the Field Studies Department at the
Oxford County Museum, Woodstock. While there he undertook a survey
of the existing milestones and produced a series of booklets on
milestones, toll roads, toll houses, drove roads and bridges. He
subsequently moved to Hampshire where he also undertook a milestone
survey and acted as the County Coordinator for the Milestone
Society. Keith published a detailed history of the Hampshire section
of the Great Road London to Exeter. There have been other articles
on the legal history of the milestone in England and Wales and
voluntary road improvement initiatives in the 18th century.
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Roman and
Medieval roads found in Nantwich (a PhotoGallery feature) |
Museum Trust page
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