- Tollhouse at Moretonhampstead
- Tollhouse at Whiddon Down
- Tollhouse at Bovey Tracey
- Tollhouse at Forches Cross, demolished in 2009
![]() Milestone of the Newton Bushell Turnpike Trust at Bovey Heath | |
Formation | 1760 |
---|---|
Dissolved | November 1872 |
Purpose | Creation and maintenance of turnpike roads |
Region served | Devon, United Kingdom |
The Newton Bushell Turnpike Trust was a turnpike trust company in Devon which built and maintained trunk road connections from the West of Newton Bushell (now Newton Abbot between 1760 and November 1872. The trust built several roads, including what is now the A382 from Newton to Whiddon Down and the A383 to Ashburton.
The trust was formed in 1760, and on 16 December 1760, placed its first petition to Parliament to take control of, widen, and repair the road between Newton Bushell and Ashburton. [1] This led to the passage through Parliament of the Devon Road Act 1760 (1 Geo. 3 c.34), setting the legal framework to create the turnpike.
The following year, in 1761 they made "petition of the Gentlemen, Clergy, and Freeholders of the several Parishes of Teingrafe, Bovey Tracey, Luftley, North Bovey, and Moreton Hampstead" on 19 January 1761, due their road being "incommodious, having a very troublesome ascent and descent, that has scarcely ever been considered a public road". [2] This caused the building of the turnpike road from Newton Bushell (now Newton Abbot) to Moretonhampstead.
In 1826, a further act of Parliament (7 Geo. 4 c.92) was made to both repair and improve the road from Newton to Moretonhampstead, as well as extend it to Whiddon Down through the village of Sandy Park, [1] where it would join with the turnpike of the Okehampton Turnpike Trust. [3]
In 1834, the trust was taken to court and it was found that they had not fulfilled their duties under the acts of Parliament, by not completing all of the road as directed, and were therefore ordered to remove the Moreton Northern and Whiddon Down Gates. [4]
The trust sub-let operation of the toll gates to a contractor, and then used the money to pay for road repairs, which was done by tender. [5]
The trust ceased to exist following the expiry of all of its acts of Parliament in November 1872. [1]
The trust's routes were:
The turnpike trust had ten tollhouses along their routes (as well as three on their branch to Ashburton, now the A383), [1] of which three remain standing. These were at:
The trust installed distinctive milestones on their roads, [1] with distances carved onto granite and showing the distance to the destinations in miles, furlongs, and poles. [6]
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Moretonhampstead is a market town, parish and ancient manor in Devon, situated on the north-eastern edge of Dartmoor, within the Dartmoor National Park. The parish now includes the hamlet of Doccombe, and it is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of Drewsteignton, Dunsford, Bridford, Bovey Tracey, Lustleigh, North Bovey and Chagford.
Teignbridge is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based in the town of Newton Abbot. The district also includes the towns of Ashburton, Buckfastleigh, Dawlish, Kingsteignton and Teignmouth, along with numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. Teignbridge contains part of the south Devon coastline, including the Dawlish Warren National Nature Reserve. Some of the inland western parts of the district lie within the Dartmoor National Park. It is named after the old Teignbridge hundred.
Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its population was 24,029 in 2011, and was estimated at 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in the Victorian era as the home of the South Devon Railway locomotive works. This later became a major steam engine shed, retained to service British Railways diesel locomotives until 1981. It now houses the Brunel industrial estate. The town has a race course nearby, the most westerly in England, and a country park, Decoy. It is twinned with Besigheim in Germany and Ay in France.
Ilsington is a village and civil parish situated on the eastern edge of Dartmoor, Devon, England. It is one of the largest parishes in the county, and includes the villages of Ilsington, Haytor Vale, Liverton and South Knighton. The parish is surrounded, clockwise from the north, by the parishes of Bovey Tracey, Teigngrace, Newton Abbot, Ogwell, Bickington, Ashburton, Widecombe-in-the-Moor and Manaton. In 2001 the population of the parish was 2,444, greatly increased from the 886 residents recorded in 1901. The parish is represented in parliament by Mel Stride, as part of the Central Devon constituency.
Bovey Tracey is a town and civil parish in Devon, England, on the edge of Dartmoor, its proximity to which gives rise to the slogan used on the town's boundary signs, "The Gateway to the Moor". It is often known locally as "Bovey". It is about 10 miles south-west of Exeter and lies on the A382 road, about halfway between Newton Abbot and Moretonhampstead. The village is at the centre of the electoral ward of Bovey. At the 2011 census the population of this ward was 7,721.
Lustleigh is a small village and civil parish in the Wray Valley, inside the Dartmoor National Park in Devon, England. It is between the towns of Bovey Tracey and Moretonhampstead. The village has often been named amongst the best or prettiest villages in the country in various publications, particularly due to the traditional thatched buildings in the village centre, and local activities such as the Lustleigh Show. This has also led to it being noted as the most expensive rural location to buy a house.
Central Devon is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Mel Stride of the Conservative Party.
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Bovey railway station sometimes known as Bovey for Ilsington was on the Moretonhampstead and South Devon Railway at Bovey Tracey, Devon, England.
The A382 is a road in South West England, connecting Newton Abbot to the A38, then to Bovey Tracey and on through Moretonhampstead to the A30.
Hawkmoor Hospital, originally known as Hawkmoor County Sanatorium, was a specialist hospital near Bovey Tracey in Devon, England, founded in 1913 as a pulmonary tuberculosis sanatorium as part of a network of such facilities, instigated by the Public Health 1912. From 1948, the hospital catered for patients with a range of chest ailments, as well as chest surgery, and mental disability patients. From 1973, the facility dealt solely with mental health problems until its closure in 1987.
Brimley Halt was a railway station open in 1928 by the Great Western Railway (GWR) to serve the village of Brimley that lies between Bovey Tracey and Ilsington in South Devon, England. It had a single platform and was located on a curved section of track without a passing loop or sidings. A special train to Bovey Tracey visited Brimley Halt on 5 July 1970, its last known use by a passenger train. The track had been lifted by 8 September 1975.
The Dartmoor Sunday Rover was a Devon County Council-supported bus and rail network in Devon, England. It was withdrawn after the 2015 season.