| Description | In existence since the seventeenth century, the Hyde Park Corner toll house commanded one of the leading roads into London. It levied passing traffic and the monies raised were used for the maintenance of the highway. The London turnpikes were unloved: one popular description of them was “the most ruthless highwayman of them all”.
The sale and removal of the Hyde Park toll in 1825 was described by a contemporary, William Hone:
"The sale by auction of the “toll-houses” on the north and south side of the road, with the “weighing machine,” and lamp-posts at Hyde-park-corner, was effected by Mr. Abbott, the estate agent and appraiser, by order of the trustees of the roads. They were sold for building materials; the north toll-house was in five lots, the south in five other lots; the gates, rails posts, and inscription boards were in five more lots; and the engine-house was also in five lots. At the same time, the weighing machine and toll-houses at Jenny’s Whim bridge were sold in seven lots; and the toll-house near the bun-house at Chelsea, with lamp posts on the road, were likewise sold in seven lots. The whole are entirely cleared away, to the relief of thousands of persons resident in these neighbourhoods. It is too much to expect every thing vexatious to disappear at once; this is a very good beginning, and if there be truth in the old saying, we may expect “a good ending.”
From: Every-day Book, by William Hone, entry for 4 October 1825 |