Building better roads required more money than the parishes could find from their rates (a local tax). An important new way of organising the building of main roads in the 18th Century was through Turnpike Trusts.
Turnpike Trusts were authorised to borrow money to pay for road improvements and charge tolls to recover the costs and pay for on-going maintenance. Unlike the parishes, Turnpike Trusts had the resources to hire road engineers and builders to do a proper job.
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History Society
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