Sparrows Herne Turnpike Road from London to Aylesbury was an 18th-century English toll road passing through Watford and Hemel Hempstead. The route was approximately that of the original A41 road; the Edgware Road, through Watford, Kings Langley, Apsley, the Boxmoor area of Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Northchurch, Cow Roast and Tring. Much of this part is now numbered the A4251 road. It linked in with other turnpikes to the north forming a route to Birmingham.
| Short Title: | Hertford and Bucks Roads Act 1762 |
| Type: | Act |
| Parliament: | Parliament of Great Britain |
| Long Title: | An Act for amending, widening, altering, and keeping in Repair, the Road from the South End of Sparrow's Herne on Bushey Heath, through the Market Towns of Watford, Berkhampstead Saint Peter's, and Tring, in the County of Hertford, by Pettipher's Elms, to the Turnpike Road at Walton near Aylesbury in the County of Bucks. |
| Year: | 1762 |
| Citation: | 2 Geo. 3. c. 63 |
| Royal Assent: | 8 April 1762 |
| Collapsed: | yes |
The turnpike trust was set up in 1762 by around 300 landed gentry, who obtained an act of Parliament, the (2 Geo. 3. c. 63), to look after about 26 miles of road between Sparrows Herne near Bushey and Walton near Aylesbury. It was the turnpike's depot at Sparrows Herne which gave the road its name.
The frequent use of the route by heavy carts carrying grain to London made it notorious for its rutted and pitted state even after being made into a turnpike.
The turnpike survived the coming of the railways until 1872,[1] when it passed to the route's various parishes and highway boards to maintain and the tolls were removed.
The original turnpike gates were:
Brick toll houses for these gates were built at a cost of around £25 each. Tollkeepers were appointed and paid 10s/6d a week for which they had to man the gate day and night and from which money they had to pay for the oil for the nighttime illumination of the gates with lamps.
In 1762, the maximum rate for tolls were: