52-400: [REDACTED] A4150 [REDACTED] A4124 [REDACTED] A41 [REDACTED] A454 [REDACTED] A4123 [REDACTED] A459 The A449 is a major road in the United Kingdom . It runs north from junction 24 of the A48 road at Newport in South Wales to Stafford in Staffordshire . The southern section of the road, between Ross on Wye and Newport forms part of
104-415: A coach pulled by four horses, a penny for an unladen horse and ten pence for a drove of 20 cows. The trustees could call on a portion of the statute duty from the parishes, either as labour or by a cash payment. The trust applied the income to pay for labour and materials to maintain the road. They were also able to mortgage future tolls to raise loans for new structures and for more substantial improvements to
156-521: A disproportionate amount of damage to the road. The rate at which new trusts were created slowed in the early 19th century but the existing trusts were making major investments in highway improvement. The government had been directly involved in the building of military roads in Scotland following a rebellion in 1745, but the first national initiative was a scheme to aid communications with Ireland . Between 1815 and 1826 Thomas Telford undertook
208-683: A fifth of the roads in Britain; the majority being maintained by the parishes. A trust would typically be responsible for about 20 miles (32 km) of highway, although exceptions such as the Exeter Turnpike Trust controlled 147 miles (237 km) of roads radiating from the city. On the Bath Road for instance, a traveller from London to the head of the Thames Valley in Wiltshire would pass through
260-583: A major reorganization of the existing trusts along the London to Holyhead Road , and the construction of large sections of new road to avoid hindrances, particularly in North Wales. By 1838 the turnpike trusts in England were collecting £1.5 million per year from leasing the collection of tolls but had a cumulative debt of £7 million, mainly as mortgages. Even at its greatest extent, the turnpike system only administered
312-709: A rising volume of traffic, or in building new sections of road. During the first three decades of the 18th century, sections of the main radial roads into London were put under the control of individual turnpike trusts. The pace at which new turnpikes were created picked up in the 1750s as trusts were formed to maintain the cross-routes between the Great Roads radiating from London. Roads leading into some provincial towns, particularly in Western England, were put under single trusts and key roads in Wales were turnpiked. In South Wales,
364-655: A single carriageway. It passes through Penkridge before crossing the M6 at Junction 13, reaching its terminus at its junction with the A34 in Stafford. Originally turnpiked under the Stafford, Worcester and Warwick Roads Act 1760 ( 1 Geo. 3 . c. 39), the Wolverhampton-Stafford road was part of the historic London-Liverpool coach route. Notoriously narrow in the 19th century, much of it
416-461: A single lane each way and 50 miles per hour (80 km/h) speed restriction. The road becomes urban again while passing through Kidderminster. It then heads north into Staffordshire , passing between Kinver and Stourbridge and crossing the A458 at Stourton. The A491 meets it just north of Kingswinford . Continuing northwards, it passes Wombourne (becoming dual carriageway once more) being joined by
468-550: A trust was ended, there were often great celebrations as the gates were thrown open. The assets of the trust, such as tollhouses, gates and sections of surplus land beside the road were auctioned off to reduce the debt, and mortgagees were paid at whatever rate in the pound the funds would allow. The legacy of the turnpike trust is the network of roads that still form the framework of the main road system in Britain. In addition, many roadside features such as milestones and tollhouses have survived, despite no longer having any function in
520-612: A wishbone bridge running through it which carries the Metro light rail line from the City Centre to Bilston Road. Ring Road St. David's has a contraflow bus lane allowing access to the rebuilt bus station which is part of the Interchange project. It officially carries the designation A4150 , although this does not appear on any signs with the exception of at the junction of Waterloo Road and Jack Hayward Way, near to Molineux stadium , and not on
572-466: Is divided into seven sections, between seven junctions with nearly all of the main routes into the city. The seven sections are all named after saints (e.g. "Ring Road St John's"). Originally the names chosen referred to nearby churches; however, with one section still to be built, it was noticed that St George , St Andrew and St Patrick (the patron saints of England , Scotland and Ireland respectively) were included, but St David (of Wales )
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#1732844727472624-479: The A449 was rerouted down Stafford Street instead of Waterloo Road which was then declassified. The Ring Road was constructed in stages between 1960 and 1986. The St John's and St Mark's sections were the first to be built in the 1960s. The St David's section to was the final section to be completed, and passes under a bridge connecting the east of the city centre to Wolverhampton railway station . The St John's section
676-561: The A463 before turning sharply north-east into the outskirts of Wolverhampton and meeting the Ring Road . The road resumes its journey northwards, passing Molineux Stadium (home of Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. ) and leaving the city just south of Junction 2 of the M54 . It originally ran through the centre of Wolverhampton until the 1980s, when all roads within the new ring road were declassified. Around
728-574: The British Empire (Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, and South Africa) and in the United States. Turnpikes declined with the coming of the railways and then the Local Government Act 1888 gave responsibility for maintaining main roads to county councils and county borough councils. The term "turnpike" originates from the similarity of the gate used to control access to
780-467: The 14th century. These grants were made by letters patent , almost invariably for a limited term, presumably the time likely to be required to pay for the required works. Tudor statutes had placed responsibility on each parish vestry to maintain all its roads. This arrangement was adequate for roads that the parishioners used themselves but proved unsatisfactory for the principal highways that were used by long-distance travellers and waggoners. During
832-399: The 17th century, the piecemeal approach to road maintenance caused acute problems on the main routes into London. As trade increased, the growing numbers of heavy carts and carriages led to serious deterioration in the state of these roads and this could not be remedied by the use of parish statute labour. A parliamentary bill was tabled in 1621/22 to relieve the parishes responsible for part of
884-614: The 1870s it was feasible for Parliament to close the trusts progressively without leaving an unacceptable financial burden on local communities. From 1871, all applications for renewal were sent to the Turnpike Trust Commission. This arranged for existing acts to continue, but with the objective of discharging the debt, and returning the roads to local administration, which was by then by highway boards . The Local Government Act 1888 gave responsibility for maintaining main roads to county councils and county borough councils. When
936-501: The A5) in the 1820s reduced the journey time of the London mail coach from 45 hours to just 27 hours, and the best mail coach speeds rose from 5-6 mph (8–10 km/h) to 9-10 mph (14–16 km/h). McAdam and his sons were employed as general surveyors (consultant engineers) to many of the main turnpike trusts in southern England. They recommended the building of new sections of road to avoid obstructions, eased steep slopes and directed
988-663: The City Centre. Three main roads into the city do not meet the Ring Road, these being the A454 Compton Road from the west, the A459 from the south and the A460 Cannock Road from the north-east; they meet the A41 , A4123 and A449 respectively slightly further away from the Ring Road, but within 1 ⁄ 4 mi (0.40 km) in each case. The A459 used to meet the Ring Road at
1040-539: The Great North Road by imposing a scale of tolls on various sorts of traffic. The toll revenue was to be used in repairing the road, however, the bill was defeated. During the following forty years, the idea of making travellers contribute to the repair of roads was raised on several occasions. Many parishes continued to struggle to find funds to repair major roads and in Hertfordshire , way wardens on behalf of
1092-511: The Ring Road itself. The southern section of the ring road was home to Josef Stawinoga , a Polish immigrant known locally as "Fred the Tramp". He set up home in a tent on the ring road's central reservation soon after it opened in the 1960s, and lived there until his death in October 2007 at the age of 86. When Ring Road St. David's was built, a bridge over the Ring Road provided the only road route to
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#17328447274721144-411: The existing highway. The trusts applied some funds to erecting tollhouses that accommodated the pikeman or toll-collector beside the turnpike gate. Although trusts initially organised the collection of tolls directly, it became common for them to auction a lease to collect tolls. Specialist toll-farmers would make a fixed payment to the trust for the lease and then organise the day-to-day collection of
1196-425: The highway passed, augment this with tolls from users from outside the parishes and apply the whole to the maintenance of the main highway. This became the pattern for the turnpiking of a growing number of highways, sought by those who wished to improve flow of commerce through their part of a county. The proposal to turnpike a particular section of road was normally a local initiative and a separate Act of Parliament
1248-441: The highway. These officers were paid by the trust. Trustees were not paid, though they derived indirect benefits from the better transport, which improved access to markets and led to increases in rental income and trade. The first action of a new trust was to erect turnpike gates at which a fixed toll was charged. The Act gave a maximum toll allowable for each class of vehicle or animal – for instance one shilling and six pence for
1300-528: The junction of Dudley Road and Snow Hill but following the introduction of the A4123 gyratory system as part of the construction of the St. George's section of the Ring Road, it has terminated at Grove Street although some maps still show it as continuing to the Ring Road. The A459 also used to continue along Stafford Street (after passing through the city centre) to Five Ways Island along the former A460, B4158 and B4160 before
1352-495: The jurisdiction of seven trusts, paying a toll at the gates of each. Although a few trusts built new bridges (e.g. at Shillingford over the Thames), most bridges remained a county responsibility. A few bridges were built with private funds and tolls taken at these (e.g., the present Swinford Toll Bridge over the Thames). The quality of early turnpike roads was varied. Although turnpiking did result in some improvement to each highway,
1404-564: The justices in other counties in England and Wales. An example is the first Turnpike Act for Surrey, the Surrey and Sussex Highways Act 1696 ( 8 & 9 Will. 3 . c. 15), during the reign of William III for enhanced repairs between Reigate in Surrey and Crawley in Sussex. The act made provision to erect turnpikes , and appoint toll collectors; also to appoint surveyors, who were authorized by order of
1456-470: The justices to borrow money at five per cent interest, on security of the tolls. The first scheme that had trustees who were not justices was established through a Turnpike Act in 1706 ( 6 Ann. c. 4) for a section of the London- Chester road between Fornhill (near Hockliffe ) and Stony Stratford . The basic principle was that the trustees would manage resources from the several parishes through which
1508-413: The local justices of the peace powers to erect toll-gates on a section of the road, between Wadesmill , Hertfordshire; Caxton , Cambridgeshire ; and Stilton , Huntingdonshire for 11 years, the revenues so raised to be used for the maintenance of the road in their jurisdictions ( 15 Cha. 2 . c. 1). The toll-gate erected at Wadesmill was the prototype in England. Parliament then gave similar powers to
1560-404: The money, leaving themselves with a profit on their operations over a year. The powers of a trust were limited, normally to 21 years, after which it was assumed that the responsibility for the now-improved road would be handed back to the parishes. However, trusts routinely sought new powers before this time limit, usually citing the need to pay off the debts incurred in repairing damage caused by
1612-453: The principal roads in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries. At the peak, in the 1830s, over 1,000 trusts administered around 30,000 miles (48,000 km) of turnpike road in England and Wales, taking tolls at almost 8,000 toll-gates and side-bars. During the early 19th century the concept of the turnpike trust was adopted and adapted to manage roads within
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1664-567: The railway station. As part of the rebuilding of Wolverhampton Railway Station, a new road access and taxi rank was built off Sun Street with the existing bridge now used by the Midland Metro extension as well as access for parking for station staff. 52°34′50″N 2°07′43″W / 52.5806°N 2.1286°W / 52.5806; -2.1286 Turnpike trust Turnpike trusts were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament , with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining
1716-642: The relaying of existing road-beds with carefully graded stones to create a dry, fast-running surface (known as Macadamising ). Coach design improved to take advantage of these better roads and in 1843 the London-to- Exeter mail coach could complete the 170-mile (270-km) journey in 17 hours. The introduction of toll gates had been resented by local communities which had freely used the routes for centuries. Early Acts had given magistrates powers to punish anyone damaging turnpike property, such as defacing milestones, breaking turnpike gates or avoiding tolls. Opposition
1768-463: The renewal acts for the earlier trusts incorporated a growing list of powers and responsibilities. The Kent Roads Act 1743 ( 17 Geo. 2 . c. 4), the Turnpike Roads Act 1766 ( 7 Geo. 3 . c. 40) and the Turnpike Roads Act 1773 ( 13 Geo. 3 . c. 84) made statutory provision for the erection of milestones along the turnpike roads indicating the distance between the main towns on the road. Users of
1820-632: The result was that toll gates were dismantled and the trusts abolished in the six counties of South Wales , their powers being transferred to a roads board for each county. These are incomplete lists of trusts by county. By the early Victorian period toll gates were perceived as an impediment to free trade. The multitude of small trusts were frequently charged with being inefficient in use of resources and potentially suffered from petty corruption. The railway era spelt disaster for most turnpike trusts. Although some trusts in districts not served by railways managed to increase revenue, most did not. In 1829,
1872-457: The road is around 2.1 miles (3.4 km). Technically, the route is listed as an "Inner Ring Road", although only a tiny section of the "Outer Ring Road" was ever constructed with only one of the two designed carriageways built. A second carriageway was built in 2017 along a short stretch between Patshull Avenue and Stafford Road. The section of outer ring road is called Wobaston Road and locally classified by Wolverhampton City Council as U119. It
1924-447: The road were obliged to follow what were to become rules of the road, such as driving on the left and not damaging the road surface. Trusts could take additional tolls during the summer to pay for watering the road in order to lay the dust thrown up by fast-moving vehicles. Parliament also passed a few general Turnpike Acts dealing with the administration of the trusts and restrictions on the width of wheels – narrow wheels were said to cause
1976-473: The road, to the barriers once used to defend against attack by cavalry (see cheval de frise ). The turnpike consisted of a row of pikes or bars, each sharpened at one end, and attached to horizontal members which were secured at one end to an upright pole or axle, which could be rotated to open or close the gate. Pavage grants, originally made for paving the marketplace or streets of towns, began also to be used for maintaining some roads between towns in
2028-609: The roads of complete counties were put under single turnpike trusts in the 1760s. A further surge of trust formation occurred in the 1770s, with the turnpiking of subsidiary connecting roads, routes over new bridges, new routes in the growing industrial areas and roads in Scotland . About 150 trusts were established by 1750; by 1772 a further 400 were established and, in 1800, there were over 700 trusts. In 1825 about 1,000 trusts controlled 18,000 miles (29,000 km) of road in England and Wales. The acts of Parliament for these new trusts and
2080-781: The same time, the section of Waterloo Road on which Molineux Stadium stands was declassified and the A459 Stafford Street (north of the Ring Road) and Lower Stafford Street became part of the A449. From there it forms part of the link between the M54 and the M6 North. It crosses the A5 at the Gailey Roundabout near the village of Gailey , a short distance west of M6 Junction 12, at which point it reverts to
2132-525: The technologies used to deal with geological features, drainage, and the effects of weather, were all in their infancy. Road construction improved slowly, initially through the efforts of individual surveyors such as John Metcalf in Yorkshire in the 1760s. 19th-century engineers made great advances, notably Thomas Telford and John Loudon McAdam . The engineering work of Telford on the Holyhead Road (now
A449 road - Misplaced Pages Continue
2184-550: The town of Great Malvern . It then crosses Worcester 's ring road, the A4440, at a roundabout near Powick . North of Worcester , a spur road of the same number heads towards the M5 Junction 6, while the main route continues towards Kidderminster , concurrent with the A442 . Between Claines and Hartlebury the A449 is once again dual carriageway, but much tinkering has left the road with
2236-789: The trunk route from Stafford to Newport, avoiding the Severn Bridge The A449 starts on the M4 at the Coldra Interchange (J24) in Newport and is dual carriageway all the way to Raglan . The section from the A40 junction at Raglan to the A472 junction at Usk , known as the New Midlands Road , was one of the first sections to be dualled, opening on 16 October 1970. A special postmark dated 8 December 1972
2288-549: The vestries stood frequent trial at quarter sessions for their failure to keep the Old North Road in a good state of repair. In 1656 the parish of Radwell, Hertfordshire petitioned their local sessions for help to maintain their section of the Great North Road. Probably as a result judges on the Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire circuit represented the matter to Parliament, it then passed an act that gave
2340-573: The year before the Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened, the Warrington and Lower Irlam Trust had receipts of £1,680 but, by 1834, this had fallen to £332. The Bolton and Blackburn Trust had an income of £3,998 in 1846, but in 1847 following the completion of a railway between the two towns, this had fallen to £3,077 and, in 1849, £1,185. The debts of many trusts became significant; forced mergers of solvent and debt-laden trusts became frequent, and by
2392-547: Was constructed between 1936 and 1939. This section of the road was featured in Citizen Khan episode "Alia's University". 52°14′24″N 2°13′38″W / 52.23989°N 2.22731°W / 52.23989; -2.22731 A4150 road (Great Britain) The A4150 Wolverhampton Inner Ring Road is a ring road that encircles the city centre of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands , England . The circumference of
2444-405: Was not. Thus the final section was named after St David, but not for any local reason. At the time there was a call for it to be named St. James after the church and square which once occupied the site. Clockwise from the south-west corner, the sections are as follows: The slip road off the southbound Ring Road St. Davids links to Horseley Fields which formed part of the original A454 route into
2496-417: Was originally single carriageway but was later dualled. It was built as a dual carriageway with very wide central reservations to allow for future grade separation of the junctions, which has never happened. As a result, most of the road has a very green appearance, except for Ring Road St Mark's which has a car park in the centre, reached by an underpass from the city centre. The St. George's Roundabout has
2548-499: Was particularly intense in mountainous regions where good routes were scarce. In Mid Wales in 1839, new tolls on old roads sparked protests known as the Rebecca Riots . There were sporadic outbursts of vandalism and violent confrontation by gangs of 50 to 100 or more local men, and gatekeepers were told that if they resisted they would be killed. In 1844, the ringleaders were caught and transported to Australia as convicts. However,
2600-514: Was produced showing the opening of the A449 by The Secretary of State for Wales. Between Raglan and Ross-on-Wye the A449 is concurrent with the A40. The road becomes quite twisty on departing Ross-on-Wye, but straightens out a little before arriving at Ledbury . The road turns northwards upon crossing into Worcestershire at Little Malvern and skirts the eastern slopes of the Malvern Hills through
2652-416: Was required to create each trust. The Act gave the trustees responsibility for maintaining a specified part of the existing highway. It provided them with powers to achieve this; the right to collect tolls from those using the road was particularly important. Local gentlemen, clergy and merchants were nominated as trustees and they appointed a clerk, a treasurer and a surveyor to actually administer and maintain
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#17328447274722704-431: Was turned into dual carriageway between the world wars. The Gailey Roundabout was improved in 1929 and again in 1937, removing parts of the churchyard and the historic Spread Eagle Inn (although the latter was replaced by a new building). Widening at Penkridge between 1932 and 1934 reshaped the western part of the town, resulting in the demolition of many ancient buildings. The dual carriageway between Wolverhampton and Gailey
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