Beech Road Alan Payne December 2022
The unadopted road outside the Primitive Chapel (courtesy Bernard Ainsworth)
One of the most curious histories in England is the way that roads were named. Some important roads are still unnamed and some roads have reversed their names, including The Bath Road which went out of the village towards the east and was later changed to London Road. This article is the story of the road now known as Beech Road. Box Hill.
Archibald Robertson 1792 map (Archibald Robertson, Topographical Survey of the Great Road from London to Bath, 1792)
Creation of the Road
Beech Road was originally created as a turnpike road built in 1761, completed in piecemeal timetable. The present route was proposed in 1756 from Pickwick and down Box Hill.[1] A turnpike trust was created by Act of Parliament and given the name Bricker’s Barn Trust, after a property near the Cross Keys Inn, Pickwick. By 1761 the Bath Journal announced: The New Turnpike Road leading from Bath through Box to Chippenham, Calne and Marlborough is now completed and opened, reducing the distance by 1½ miles.[2]
Hugging the hillside, the turnpike route was liable to considerable repairs and parliamentary acts authorising work were passed in 1779, 1790, 1801, 1819 and 1828 with a view to increasing the funds for repairing the Road from Bricker’s Barn, in the parish of Corsham in the county of Wiltshire, to the Road leading from Kingsdown to Bath Easton.[3] By 1827 there were proposals for combining the management of several local turnpikes and granting, further, better and more effectual powers for amending, altering, varying, widening, and otherwise improving the said roads.[4]
Beech Road was originally created as a turnpike road built in 1761, completed in piecemeal timetable. The present route was proposed in 1756 from Pickwick and down Box Hill.[1] A turnpike trust was created by Act of Parliament and given the name Bricker’s Barn Trust, after a property near the Cross Keys Inn, Pickwick. By 1761 the Bath Journal announced: The New Turnpike Road leading from Bath through Box to Chippenham, Calne and Marlborough is now completed and opened, reducing the distance by 1½ miles.[2]
Hugging the hillside, the turnpike route was liable to considerable repairs and parliamentary acts authorising work were passed in 1779, 1790, 1801, 1819 and 1828 with a view to increasing the funds for repairing the Road from Bricker’s Barn, in the parish of Corsham in the county of Wiltshire, to the Road leading from Kingsdown to Bath Easton.[3] By 1827 there were proposals for combining the management of several local turnpikes and granting, further, better and more effectual powers for amending, altering, varying, widening, and otherwise improving the said roads.[4]
Tithe Apportionment map of 1840 (courtesy Wiltshire History Centre)
The Road in 1840
The situation had altered by the 1840s and newspaper notices advertising the letting of tolls for Beech Road ceased to be published after 1838. The old road was probably beyond repair and a new turnpike road was needed (now roughly the route of the A4). The new road was created in 1839 when contracts were offered for cutting, forming, steining, making, fencing and completing a section of 45 chains from the Box turnpike up the hill to the Rising Sun inn.[5] The Tithe Apportionment maps of 1840 clearly show the new turnpike road distinct from the old route. Only a few cottages were marked on Beech Road:
393 Arable between road and two dwelling cottages owned by John Hancock
394 Rough (arable) piece between Roads held by Thomas Strong
394a Small Garden in ditto owned by Thomas Strong
394b Cottage, shop and garden owned by James Pillinger
394c Cottage and garden owned by James Allen
The new turnpike wasn’t completed by 1840 and only ran as far as Barberry Cottage where it took a dog-leg turn before continuing down Beech Road. Nonetheless, the traffic encouraged residential development and in 1851 the trustees of the old turnpike (Rev George Mullins, William Brown and Moses Toghill) sold part of the roadway to John Waite for the sum of £2.[6]
In 1860 Eliza Ursula Strong (1821-), widow of quarry-owner Robert Strong, offered for auction all her Box Hill properties.[7] Many were on the new turnpike road (including the Rising Sun beer house) but they also included Bath View and groups of three unidentified cottages probably on Beech Road, which it isn’t possible to identify.
Beech Road had ceased to be the old turnpike route and after 1865 newspaper advertisements to lease the tolls referred to the new turnpike (the A4), mentioning turnpike gates, side gates and bars, referring to the greater width of the new road.[8]
In 1866 the maintenance tolls for Beech Road were legally abandoned, part of the dissolution of 133 turnpikes in Wiltshire covering 3,000 miles, listed as “Chippenham to Pickwick”, “Chippenham”, “Cross Hands”, “Blue Vain (sic) and Bricker’s Barn”.[9] The whole will cease and determine on November 1st 1867.
Use as a Tramway
By this time, the use of Beech Road had totally changed. The development of the stone quarry at Clift Quarry led to its use as a railway, the route of a gravity-driven tramway from Clift Quarry Works down to The Wharf, opposite Box Tunnel. David Pollard asserted that: In January 1864 Pictor & Sons planned to lay down a tramway from the Clift to their stone wharf on the Great Western Railway, just west of Box Tunnel. The Box Hill tramway was opened by November 1866, it was very steeply graded and worked by gravity and horses.[10] The tramway ran on Beech Road to the Box Railway Bridge where it passed under the eastern railway arch to The Wharf stoneyard for loading onto the national railway system. An engine house at Bath View was used to retrieve the stone wagons.[11]
It is difficult to identify who lived in the properties at this time as tenants appear to have changed quickly, probably the tramway causing problems. In later maps of the area there are references to the name of the road being Upway. This is still the name of two very old cottages but appears to have been applied to the whole of Beech Road. Possibly the reason for this is that the railway ran on the north side of the road, leaving the south side for pedestrians walking up the hill. As long as the tramway line operated, it is likely that living on the road was somewhat hazardous.
The situation had altered by the 1840s and newspaper notices advertising the letting of tolls for Beech Road ceased to be published after 1838. The old road was probably beyond repair and a new turnpike road was needed (now roughly the route of the A4). The new road was created in 1839 when contracts were offered for cutting, forming, steining, making, fencing and completing a section of 45 chains from the Box turnpike up the hill to the Rising Sun inn.[5] The Tithe Apportionment maps of 1840 clearly show the new turnpike road distinct from the old route. Only a few cottages were marked on Beech Road:
393 Arable between road and two dwelling cottages owned by John Hancock
394 Rough (arable) piece between Roads held by Thomas Strong
394a Small Garden in ditto owned by Thomas Strong
394b Cottage, shop and garden owned by James Pillinger
394c Cottage and garden owned by James Allen
The new turnpike wasn’t completed by 1840 and only ran as far as Barberry Cottage where it took a dog-leg turn before continuing down Beech Road. Nonetheless, the traffic encouraged residential development and in 1851 the trustees of the old turnpike (Rev George Mullins, William Brown and Moses Toghill) sold part of the roadway to John Waite for the sum of £2.[6]
In 1860 Eliza Ursula Strong (1821-), widow of quarry-owner Robert Strong, offered for auction all her Box Hill properties.[7] Many were on the new turnpike road (including the Rising Sun beer house) but they also included Bath View and groups of three unidentified cottages probably on Beech Road, which it isn’t possible to identify.
Beech Road had ceased to be the old turnpike route and after 1865 newspaper advertisements to lease the tolls referred to the new turnpike (the A4), mentioning turnpike gates, side gates and bars, referring to the greater width of the new road.[8]
In 1866 the maintenance tolls for Beech Road were legally abandoned, part of the dissolution of 133 turnpikes in Wiltshire covering 3,000 miles, listed as “Chippenham to Pickwick”, “Chippenham”, “Cross Hands”, “Blue Vain (sic) and Bricker’s Barn”.[9] The whole will cease and determine on November 1st 1867.
Use as a Tramway
By this time, the use of Beech Road had totally changed. The development of the stone quarry at Clift Quarry led to its use as a railway, the route of a gravity-driven tramway from Clift Quarry Works down to The Wharf, opposite Box Tunnel. David Pollard asserted that: In January 1864 Pictor & Sons planned to lay down a tramway from the Clift to their stone wharf on the Great Western Railway, just west of Box Tunnel. The Box Hill tramway was opened by November 1866, it was very steeply graded and worked by gravity and horses.[10] The tramway ran on Beech Road to the Box Railway Bridge where it passed under the eastern railway arch to The Wharf stoneyard for loading onto the national railway system. An engine house at Bath View was used to retrieve the stone wagons.[11]
It is difficult to identify who lived in the properties at this time as tenants appear to have changed quickly, probably the tramway causing problems. In later maps of the area there are references to the name of the road being Upway. This is still the name of two very old cottages but appears to have been applied to the whole of Beech Road. Possibly the reason for this is that the railway ran on the north side of the road, leaving the south side for pedestrians walking up the hill. As long as the tramway line operated, it is likely that living on the road was somewhat hazardous.
Extract of Sale Particulars map (courtesy Bernard Ainsworth)
Land Ownership and Footpaths
The houses on Box Hill are scattered over the area in no particular direction. Surprisingly, this also applies to many of the cottages on Beech Road, set at various angles to the road rather than fronting it. Examples of this can be seen at Bath View, Barberry Cottage, Hilden and Fogleigh Cottage. This may indicate that the houses were built before the road was turnpiked and probably have Georgian rather than Victorian origins. Some of these may relate to Georgian quarrymen but not all and we can see that a basket-weaver owned Barberry Cottage, a blacksmith occupied Rose Cottage and smaller properties were held by agricultural labourers. We get more information about the occupants of the properties in the Northey auction of 1923. We can see from the map below that the Northey family kept the freeholds of most of the lower Beech Road but little on the higher part of the road (held by the Strong family) or the new turnpike (held as part of Fogleigh House). The conclusion might be that the Northeys deliberately allowed the development of the lower part of Beech Road (presumably selling permission to develop), whilst the upper areas were used for quarrying.
The land on Box Hill was (and continues to be) complicated by numerous footpaths and rights of way, sometimes crossing residents’ gardens. Some of these are due to the haphazard way that the area was developed and others attributed to access paths for spring wells (mains facilities only reached the Hill around the time of the First World War). Examples of these footpaths can often be found where houses are sited at right-angles to the road. Some paths have now largely fallen totally out of use, including a track at Victory Cottage and another at The Drum going through the garden (now rescinded) but there are still several footpaths listed as Box 33, 34 and 36.
The situation on Beech Road wasn’t helped when a decision was made to leave it as unadopted (private). The County Councils were given funding by the Ministry of Transport in the inter-war years in order to provide work whilst also upgrading roads. It is probable that the complications of a public roadway and permanent way railroad on the path was too much to resolve, and the road’s maintenance was left up to residents.
The houses on Box Hill are scattered over the area in no particular direction. Surprisingly, this also applies to many of the cottages on Beech Road, set at various angles to the road rather than fronting it. Examples of this can be seen at Bath View, Barberry Cottage, Hilden and Fogleigh Cottage. This may indicate that the houses were built before the road was turnpiked and probably have Georgian rather than Victorian origins. Some of these may relate to Georgian quarrymen but not all and we can see that a basket-weaver owned Barberry Cottage, a blacksmith occupied Rose Cottage and smaller properties were held by agricultural labourers. We get more information about the occupants of the properties in the Northey auction of 1923. We can see from the map below that the Northey family kept the freeholds of most of the lower Beech Road but little on the higher part of the road (held by the Strong family) or the new turnpike (held as part of Fogleigh House). The conclusion might be that the Northeys deliberately allowed the development of the lower part of Beech Road (presumably selling permission to develop), whilst the upper areas were used for quarrying.
The land on Box Hill was (and continues to be) complicated by numerous footpaths and rights of way, sometimes crossing residents’ gardens. Some of these are due to the haphazard way that the area was developed and others attributed to access paths for spring wells (mains facilities only reached the Hill around the time of the First World War). Examples of these footpaths can often be found where houses are sited at right-angles to the road. Some paths have now largely fallen totally out of use, including a track at Victory Cottage and another at The Drum going through the garden (now rescinded) but there are still several footpaths listed as Box 33, 34 and 36.
The situation on Beech Road wasn’t helped when a decision was made to leave it as unadopted (private). The County Councils were given funding by the Ministry of Transport in the inter-war years in order to provide work whilst also upgrading roads. It is probable that the complications of a public roadway and permanent way railroad on the path was too much to resolve, and the road’s maintenance was left up to residents.
Extract of Northey Property Auction map 1923 (courtesy Bernard Ainsworth)
Northey Property Sale, 1923
In 1923 the lords of the manor, the Northey family, auctioned their remaining properties on Box Hill as individual holdings probably hoping that tenants would buy out their own freeholds. The Primitive Chapel and next door Upway Cottages were already in private hands. The Auction Sale details of the remaining properties give us an indication of the tenants and the properties at that time:
15 Edwin Hayward, detached cottage and garden (now called Rose Cottage)
19 Two Cottages: Westernmost RW Tilley (Undercliffe Cottage) and Easternmost H Dancey (Rustic Cottage)
20 Herbert Mumford, plot garden land behind Upway Cottages
21 Thomas Henry Tinson, plot garden land behind the Primitive Chapel
17 Thomas Henry Tinson, semi-detached cottage and garden (Hilden / Fogleigh Cottage)
16 Herbert Mumford, semi-detached cottage (one bedroom) and garden (Fogleigh Cottage)
Probably the most telling feature of the particulars is what is and what isn’t included. The old road still runs as a track behind the garden of Faircross House and nearby buildings but has largely fallen out of use. Robert Wilton Tilley lived at Rudloe House and later Rudloe Cottage for many years from at least 1911 until the Second World War. He was an auctioneer and estate agent, well-known locally as a partner in Tilley and Culverwell who operated in Bath and ran the Chippenham Agricultural Market.[12] Undercliffe was an investment property for his family, enabling his daughter Nancy to compete as an international eventer and horse carriage driver. In 1923 Rose Cottage, Undercliffe and Rustic Cottages had gas and water supplies connected, Hilden and Fogleigh Cottages had only water supplied. None appear to have electricity. Hilden had a pigsty in the garden and all had a washhouse (one was fired by a copper and sink, whilst Undercliffe’s washhouse was just a galvanized iron lean-to). Until recently, the buildings were quite basic and lacked the improvement that owner-occupation often provides. It is only in recent years that their restoration and preservation has been an issue.
We follow the stories of The Primitive Chapel and Upway Cottages and those of Rose, Rustic and Undercliffe in separate articles.
In 1923 the lords of the manor, the Northey family, auctioned their remaining properties on Box Hill as individual holdings probably hoping that tenants would buy out their own freeholds. The Primitive Chapel and next door Upway Cottages were already in private hands. The Auction Sale details of the remaining properties give us an indication of the tenants and the properties at that time:
15 Edwin Hayward, detached cottage and garden (now called Rose Cottage)
19 Two Cottages: Westernmost RW Tilley (Undercliffe Cottage) and Easternmost H Dancey (Rustic Cottage)
20 Herbert Mumford, plot garden land behind Upway Cottages
21 Thomas Henry Tinson, plot garden land behind the Primitive Chapel
17 Thomas Henry Tinson, semi-detached cottage and garden (Hilden / Fogleigh Cottage)
16 Herbert Mumford, semi-detached cottage (one bedroom) and garden (Fogleigh Cottage)
Probably the most telling feature of the particulars is what is and what isn’t included. The old road still runs as a track behind the garden of Faircross House and nearby buildings but has largely fallen out of use. Robert Wilton Tilley lived at Rudloe House and later Rudloe Cottage for many years from at least 1911 until the Second World War. He was an auctioneer and estate agent, well-known locally as a partner in Tilley and Culverwell who operated in Bath and ran the Chippenham Agricultural Market.[12] Undercliffe was an investment property for his family, enabling his daughter Nancy to compete as an international eventer and horse carriage driver. In 1923 Rose Cottage, Undercliffe and Rustic Cottages had gas and water supplies connected, Hilden and Fogleigh Cottages had only water supplied. None appear to have electricity. Hilden had a pigsty in the garden and all had a washhouse (one was fired by a copper and sink, whilst Undercliffe’s washhouse was just a galvanized iron lean-to). Until recently, the buildings were quite basic and lacked the improvement that owner-occupation often provides. It is only in recent years that their restoration and preservation has been an issue.
We follow the stories of The Primitive Chapel and Upway Cottages and those of Rose, Rustic and Undercliffe in separate articles.
Conclusion
Beech Road is an anomaly in the development of Box Hill. From being the main turnpike road between Corsham and Box, it became a railway and later a no through road superseded by the new turnpike road, now the A4. Beech Road now remains as a unique reminder of the old Box Hill-on-the-Road, a private track unadopted by the council but cherished by its owners.
Beech Road is an anomaly in the development of Box Hill. From being the main turnpike road between Corsham and Box, it became a railway and later a no through road superseded by the new turnpike road, now the A4. Beech Road now remains as a unique reminder of the old Box Hill-on-the-Road, a private track unadopted by the council but cherished by its owners.
References
[1] John Poulsom, The Ways of Corsham, published John Poulsom, 1989, p.10
[2] The Bath Journal quoted in Daphne Phillips, The Great Road to Bath p.40
[3] The Bath Chronicle, 27 August 1818 and Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette, 13 November 1828
[4] The Bath Chronicle, 29 November 1827
[5] The Bath Chronicle, 23 May 1839
[6] Abstract of Title for the Primitive Chapel, 1884
[7] Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette, 3 May 1860
[8] Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette, 28 September 1865
[9] Frome Times, 15 August 1866
[10] See Clift Quarry Steam Loco
[11] Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette, 3 May 1860
[12] Bath Weekly Chronicle and Herald, 14 February 1942
[1] John Poulsom, The Ways of Corsham, published John Poulsom, 1989, p.10
[2] The Bath Journal quoted in Daphne Phillips, The Great Road to Bath p.40
[3] The Bath Chronicle, 27 August 1818 and Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette, 13 November 1828
[4] The Bath Chronicle, 29 November 1827
[5] The Bath Chronicle, 23 May 1839
[6] Abstract of Title for the Primitive Chapel, 1884
[7] Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette, 3 May 1860
[8] Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette, 28 September 1865
[9] Frome Times, 15 August 1866
[10] See Clift Quarry Steam Loco
[11] Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette, 3 May 1860
[12] Bath Weekly Chronicle and Herald, 14 February 1942