All Round the Wrekin - Burcotgate

Turnpike Trusts

By the 18th Century, the absence of local or national government funding for road maintenance led to the creation of over a thousand turnpike trusts much like the one in Wrockwardine. They were intended as a solution to the problems of dealing with the huge amounts of wear and tear created by the high volume of traffic using Britain's roads. Each trust was empowered by an Act of Parliament to raise money for repairs and to build and erect tollhouses, tollgates and milestones along the stretches of highway that they maintained.