Marrin's Bookshop

Synopsis

Notice...that the next meeting of the trustees for repairing and widening the road, from wats cross to cowden...the road...from sevenoaks common to crockhurst hatch corner, and from penshurst town to southborough...is appointed to be held at the leicester arms, in penshurst...at which meeting, the several surveyors of the highways in the parishes and boroughs of hillden, holllanden, charket, penshurst town, middleward, hallborough east, hallborough west, ashurst, speldhurst, bidborough, southborough west, hever, cowden, and chiddingstone, are hereby required to deliver to the surveyors of the said roads...true lists...of the names of all the inhabitasnts and occupiers of lands, tenenements, or hereditaments...and which...keep teams or draughts, or occupy plough lands, and are liable to do team's duty, and which of them are labourers...and also the number of day's work which such teams or draughts, or otherwise each person ought to do on the said roads...hereof fail not, under the penalty of five pounds.

Item Description

Letterpress notice with manuscript insertions and alterations, mounted on later card. 8 x 10 inches.

Notes

At this meeting of the Turnpike Trustees for the area centred around Penshurst, the highway surveyors of the fourteen parishes through which the turnpike roads run, are summoned to liaise with the turnpike road surveyors. The parish surveyors are to supply lists of all the local inhabitants who are able to provide team labour (i.e. horses and carts) or ordinary day labour, to repair and widen the turnpike roads. The requirement for statute labour on parish roads dates back to the 1555 Act. The new turnpike trusts were empowered by the acts of parliament which established them, to demand this statute labour as well as additional labour, to be paid at an agreed rate, from those living within a four mile radius of the turnpike roads. Statute duty was abolished by the General Highway Act of 1835 and road repairs were henceforward funded entirely from the rates. The Trusts for the turnpikes in this part of Kent were established 1765-67. Of the 'Parishes and Boroughs' listed, Penshurst, Ashurst, Speldhurst. Bidborough, Hever, Cowden and Chiddingstone are ancient parishes and Southborough a later one. Hillden (or Hilden) is a locality north west of Tonbridge, Hollanden a hamlet in the ancient parish of Leigh and Hallborough a locality in Penshurst parish. A scarce record of a turnpike trust calling on parish statute labour to carry out road repairs, seven years before this system was replaced by the 1835 Act.