A History of Toll Bar

Askern Road, Toll Bar, about 1914

A Village For The Miners

Toll Bar is a relatively young village which grew out of a necessity for extra housing. Following the population explosion which came hot on the heels of the sinking of Bentley Colliery, new housing was a priority, and the area around an old toll house on the main road to Selby became a brand new community in the Bentley area. Here we examine its origins, growth and key events in its history.

Contents

• Where Is Toll Bar?
• The Turnpike Road
• The Toll House
• Other Industry In The Area
• Hall Villa Farm
• Brick Making
• The Building Of Toll Bar Village
• The School Strike
• Toll Bar Chapel
• The Horror Of The 1932 Floods
• The Floods Of 2007
• Photos Of Toll Bar

Where Is Toll Bar?

Toll Bar would be built within the red ringed area above.
Map of north Doncaster 1772

Toll Bar today lies between Adwick le Street in the north west, Shaftholme in the east and Bentley in the south, with Bentley Moor to the north. All that exists on this map of 1772 (above) is a rough track, or road heading north out of Bentley to serve a number of settlements between Bentley and Selby. 

What is evident from this map is that this road, which seems to branch off into a myriad of small lanes, was not suitable as a through road to Selby and York. Mail coaches tended to use the Great North Road which meant York was often missed out with coaches stopping instead in Wetherby or Boroughbridge. 

The Turnpike Road

It was proposed that a new road be built to provide a direct route to Selby and York from Doncaster. This was made possible by the passing of the Doncaster to Selby Turnpike Act of 1832. The new road, which would intersect the already turnpiked Great North Road at Bridge Foot (Don Bridge), would travel north through the centre of Bentley village, emerging on to Askern Road and would continue all the way to Selby.

Part of the proposed route of the new turnpike road (in green) 

Turnpike roads became more common in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Charging travellers to pass along a turnpiked road provided funds for the upkeep and repairs of the road surface, however, the quality of roads varied greatly. Gradually, as methods of road construction was advanced by pioneers such as Thomas Telford and John Loudon McAdam, highways improved, allowing faster, more comfortable travel.

The word 'turnpike' referred to a 'gate' or 'bar' across the road to stop carriages etc until a toll was paid at a specially erected toll house.

As well as toll houses turnpike roads were also required to have milestones erected displaying distances between major towns. A milestone can be seen indicated on the 1904 map (see below, and on larger map further below), just south of the Bentley Moor area. The stone does not seem to exist now, but there is a surviving example on the Great North Road near to the Morrison's store.

Milestone indicator on the 1904 map

Milestone on the Great North Road

The Toll House

1904 map showing the location of the toll house

Toll houses were built along turnpike roads to collect payments from travellers. These houses also provided accommodation for the pikeman and his family. These buildings are distinctive for the prominent bay frontages which gave the pikeman a good view of the road and allowed for the display of the tollboard.

A toll house was built roughly three miles north of Doncaster in 1832 at the same time as the road to Selby was turnpiked (see maps above and below). 

Section of turnpike road showing the toll house in some detail,
from a map of 1891

The old toll house in its later guise as a club

Records of toll collectors can be found in the censuses starting in 1841. In that census Benjamin Hird (35) was the collector, he lived there with his wife Mary (30) and daughter Sarah (10). Interestingly, the record names the property as 'Hall Villa Bar', no doubt taken from nearby Hall Villa farm.

1841 census record for Hall Villa Bar

In 1851 it was Edward Hinville (67) in charge of collecting tolls. He lived there with his wife Hannah (50), and sons Edward (20) and William (18). 

1851 census record for Hall Villa Bar

By 1861 James Bashforth (48) had taken over as toll collector. His wife was Sarah (48) and they had three children, William (13), Hannah (11) and Charles (7).

1861 census record for Hall Villa Toll Bar

James Bashforth had an extended stay at the toll house compared to those who came earlier. He is recorded as a toll collector and a cordwainer (shoe maker) on the 1871 census.

1871 census for Hall Villa

By 1881 and the next census, James Bashforth had returned to his native Barnsley where he was working as a coal miner. 

From 1881 no toll collectors are listed on the census records, so it might be the case that by that time toll collecting had ceased. It was during this decade that an act was passed seeing the responsibility of turnpike roads handed back to County Councils, therefore ending the trusts. 

On the electoral register for 1900 there is an entry for 'Hall Villa Barhouse', which was occupied by Harkham Horne. Looking at the census records for Horne, we find him in 1881 at Hall Villa, presumably at the old toll house, aged 37. A decade earlier he had been living in Walkeringham, Nottinghamshire, so 1881 is the first census we pick him up in the Doncaster area. Horne, who was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, was married to Mary (38) and they had a twelve year old daughter Ann. Horne worked as a brick maker, and as we will see from the following chapter, brick making was a prevalent occupation in the Bentley Moor area. 

The Horne's lived at the old toll house until 1901 before moving to Tickhill Road, Doncaster.

As housing began to surround the old toll house it was converted for use as a club and became the Askern Road Working Men's Club and Institute. 

The old toll house in the 1980's, when it was Toll Bar Motors
Photo courtesy of Miriam Harrison

It is unclear when the toll house went out of use as a club, but by 1928 there was another club on the opposite side of Askern Road.

The toll house still survives to this day and can be found on the corner of Askern Road and Prospect Road. It is currently in use as an auto paint shop.

Other Industry In The Area

Bentley Moor in 1904

Hall Villa Farm

A little further north of the old toll house lies Bentley Moor. A sparsely populated area between Adwick le Street and Tilts. To the south lay Hall Villa; this was a farm dating back into the 1700's. Parish records begin mentioning Hall Villa in 1799, when a Thomas Crookes lived there, but it could have been in existence earlier than that and just not named in the parish records. Unlike other farm buildings and dwellings in the area, there is no indication of a building shown there on the 1772 map, so this may mean we can place the date of Hall Villa Farm between 1772 and 1799. Hall Villa is said to have been owned by the Hall family, which is probably where the name came from. There are a huge number of parish records for the Hall family, dating back to the 1560's, but nothing to tie them to that particular farm. Again, this could just mean that the property wasn't mentioned in their records.

Hall Villa Farm on a map of 1891

We know that Hall Villa was a farm from information in the census records. John Footitt (33) was the farmer there in 1841; he lived there with his wife and four children. Also listed are five farm labourers, one with a family of his own, so the farm must have been of considerable size. John Footitt was most probably a tenant farmer, renting from the landowner, but unfortunately neither the census records nor the electoral register tell us who owned the farm at that time.

William Addeman and his family took over Hall Villa Farm in 1846, staying there until 1864, when Richard Addeman (possibly William's son) took over, however from the electoral registers of 1863, the owner of the farm is listed as William Charles Anderson of York.

Richard Addeman appears on the electoral registers until 1870, then the only listing up to 1877 is that of the owner, William Anderson.

In 1878 James Clark is listed as the occupier of Hall Villa Farm. James was born in 1839 in Adwick le Street. His wife was Eliza, born in 1837 and they had six children. The Clark's occupied Hall Villa Farm until James died in October 1913. 

It is unclear who occupied the farm after the Clark's as the electoral registers become too big to search without a name to go on. However, the farm is shown on maps right up to 1952, so it was probably demolished some time after then. All that remains of Hall Villa Farm today is the name 'Hall Villa', given to the lane running from Askern Road to Tilts. 

Brick Making

During the mid 19th century there was a rise in demand for bricks and drainage pipes due to the building of the railways. The abundance of suitable clay in the Bentley area led to a number of brick yards beginning operations. These brick yards, or kilns can be found on maps of the time, and in the Bentley with Arksey parish there were four such brick making facilities at different times; the Tuffield brick yard was located at Arksey and is now the Willow Garth fishing pond. There was another at Tilts Hills, a third was on Bentley Moor Lane, and a later brick yard was located on Adwick Lane.

Bentley Moor Brick Kiln (top left) 1854
(Bentley Moor Lane was named 'Duffield Lane' at this time)

Site of the Bentley Moor Brick Kiln in 1891 

The 1851 census lists George Wilkinson (42) as the brick maker at Bentley Moor; he had a wife, Hannah (42) and three children, Martha (17), William (14) and Eliza (12). Also employed at the brick kiln was George Greaves (18) who must have lodged with the family to be named on the census.

The Wilkinsons could not be found on the next census of 1861, and the brick kiln seems to have gone out of use around this time. On a map of 1891 the site now has a building, which on later maps is referred to as 'Bentley Grange' and seems to have been a farm. The old clay pit is shown as a pond which still exists today. 

Later maps show a brick yard at a site on Adwick Lane, this was a later concern which seems to have gone out of use by the time the 1904 map was produced as it is referred to as the 'Old Brick Yard' (see below). In the chapter on the toll house (above), it was mentioned that Harpham Horne, who lived at the toll house from 1881 was a brick maker. It is almost certain he would have been working at the Adwick Lane yard. The Horne's left the toll house in 1901 which probably coincided with the demise of the brick yard.

The lake that was left behind after the brick yard closed down was popular with local anglers, but was filled in around the time of the Second World War as the condition of the water was seen as a health hazard.

The site was later used as a refuse dump, but is now in use as a football ground.

1904 map showing both brick yards

The Adwick Lane Brick Yard in 1891

The Building Of Toll Bar Village

 

Up to 1911 the only house standing on the old turnpike road was the toll house, however, during the years leading up to the First World War traditional terraced housing began to be constructed on either side of the road. The demand for housing in the Bentley area rose considerably with the opening of Bentley Colliery, and desperate miners were paying £5 for a key before foundations had even been laid. 

The new settlement growing around the old toll house was named 'Toll Bar' after the toll house. An ambitious plan to build 477 houses at Toll Bar was unveiled in 1912, however, the scheme failed to attract enough investors as the cost of building houses was rising rapidly. 

In the end around 400 houses were built behind the main road, forming the residential streets of Coney Road, Manor Road, Grange Road and Prospect Road, further housing was built on Adwick Lane. The houses off the main road were built to a very poor standard and were demolished in 1970/71 when the Manor Estate on the opposite side of Askern Road was built.

'Owston Road', the former name of Askern Road around 1914.

Shops and amenities began to appear to serve the growing village. The first shop was J M Cooper's grocers and off licence (seen in the photo above), later this was joined by a Post Office and a branch of the Doncaster Mutual Co-operative Society in 1913. The main road through Toll Bar was originally named 'Owston Road', but by 1915 this had been changed to Askern Road - an extension of the Askern Road from Bentley. In 1952 the route through Toll Bar became part of the A19 trunk road between Doncaster and the Newcastle area. 

The old Co-operative building
Photo courtesy of Keith Wilburn

During the following decade businesses in Toll Bar continued to grow and a thriving village soon emerged. Looking at the trade directories for 1927 shows just how many varied business concerns had opened in the village; the following is taken from Kelly's Directory:

Commercial

Askern Road Working Men's Club (Lewis Rigby sec), Toll Bar

Birchfield, William, beer retailer, Toll Bar

Britton, Harry, shopkeeper 

Clarke, Alec, farmer

Clay, Herbert, fried fish dealer

Fretwell, Rupert, shopkeeper

Gledhill, Frederick, shopkeeper

Grimmett, Thomas, greengrocers
Hall Villa Working Men's Club (G. Kerry secretary)
Hardy, George, shopkeeper
Hartshorn, Kate Olive (Mrs), draper and post office
Hughes, John Thomas, grocer
Jackson, Margaret (Mrs), newsagent
Minor, Edward, shopkeeper
Pearson, William, butcher
Roughton, Thomas Albert, shopkeeper
Russell and Russell Ltd, furniture dealers
Russell, Leonard, hairdresser
Sparrow, George, butcher
Stables, Flora (Mrs), grocer.

The School Strike

Striking school children in 1913

The one thing early Toll Bar lacked was a school. This meant that children had to trudge around a mile each way to attend lessons in Bentley. The road conditions at this time were terrible due to all the construction going on, from buildings, to sewers and to the railway line separating Toll Bar from Bentley.

In 1913, parents believed they were not receiving an adequate return for the rates they paid by not having a local school, and becoming concerned that their children were spending all day at school in wet, muddy clothes, a large majority of them stopped their children from attending school until a new school was provided for Toll Bar. 

Children being escorted to school in Bentley during the strike

Those children who were willing to make the journey during the strike were escorted by a policeman to and from school. The photo above was taken on the junction of Askern Road and Ansdell Road in Bentley, looking towards Toll Bar.

The strike proved successful and a temporary school was provided while a more permanent school was being built. The new school opened in September 1914.

A modern photo of Toll Bar School from Keith Wilburn

Toll Bar Chapel

Toll Bar Chapel in 1967

A new Primitive Methodist chapel was proposed for Toll Bar early in 1913. Meetings were currently being held in a member's cottage, but the congregation was quickly outgrowing the premises, so the South Yorkshire Primitive Methodist Mission planned to build a chapel suitable for 300 persons.

The new chapel was to be built opposite the old toll house, which was being used as a working men's club. The wooden framed structure would have asbestos panels and be lined with match board, and with brick foundations, it was believed to be the first building in the district constructed with these materials. The size of the chapel was to be 60ft long by 28ft wide and be 20ft in height.

Toll Bar Primitive Methodist Chapel

The interior would consist of a primary meeting room, vestry and kitchen, and would cost about £300 to build.

The stone-laying ceremony took place on the 20th of April 1913, and the opening ceremony was held on the 22nd of June 1913, which had a large attendance. The total cost of the chapel, including the seating came in at £671, considerably more than the estimated £300. 

The Sunday School held their first anniversary celebrations in July 1913. The congregation, which was still too large for the chapel sat outside in the sunshine. The event was marked by guest speakers and the children singing.

First anniversary of Toll Bar Methodist Sunday School, July 1913
Photo courtesy of Colin Hardisty

Over the course of the next 54 years, Toll Bar Methodist Chapel provided for the religious needs of the residents as well as putting on an array of social events, but by 1967 it was becoming clear that the building was suffering from a lack of repairs. There were holes in the floorboards, a bulge in one of the walls and no heating. Only one service a month was being conducted, as well as a Sunday School and midweek choir practice. It was closed down and became derelict, only to be destroyed by fire a couple of years later. 

The Horror Of The 1932 Floods

The worst floods ever witnessed in the Bentley area came in 1932 and Toll Bar bore the brunt of it.

1931/32 was a very bad couple of years for Bentley, the colliery had suffered a terrible loss at the end of 1931 when 45 men and boys were killed in an underground explosion. The pit disaster occurred just a couple of months after a serious flood inundated the village. However, it was in May 1932 that Bentley and its surrounding villages suffered the most devastating floods ever to hit the area.

Askern Road, Toll Bar 1932

The flooding was caused by unprecedented rainfall which began on Friday the 20th of May. Following thirty hours of continuous rainfall millions of gallons of water flooded down the Don Valley, causing rivers to burst their banks.

People were caught out with little or no warning and were soon rendered homeless as villages were cut off, farms and houses stood isolated and hundreds of acres of land were filled with standing water.

Flooded Askern Road, Toll Bar May 1932
Photo courtesy of Dennis Canning

By Monday 23rd of May the water was still rising and horses were struggling in the depths of the flood, and carts were beginning to sway badly, so boats were rushed to the area. The following night, Tuesday the 24th, was a night of terror for many as the water rose still further. Main roads in Bentley were flooded to a depth of six feet, while houses in side roads were filled to a depth of nine or ten feet. This was also the case in Toll Bar and the situation was so serious that government officials toured the area. 

The people of Toll Bar began to move their possessions to their upper floors at the first sign of flooding. The side roads flooded to a depth of four feet before there was much water on the main road. At first the residents were reluctant to leave their homes, but rising water caused them to realize the seriousness of the situation. Bentley Council provided a number of horses and drays to rescue the marooned and carry people in and out of the village. 

Prospect Road, Toll Bar, 1932
Photo courtesy of Bob Lord

Tuesday the 24th of May was catastrophic for Toll Bar, water draining down from other areas rushed into the village that evening and the flood waters rose rapidly. Rising to beyond Bentley Moor Lane, Askern Road and Adwick Lane became impassable.

Rescue efforts required residents to get into small boats with a few personal items and some articles of bedding. They were then rowed three quarters of a mile where they had to leave the boats and walk over the long railway bridge to the Bentley side and waiting rafts. There they would be carried a further third of a mile to the landing stage.

Askern Road, Toll Bar 1932
Photo courtesy of Bob Lord

Those people trapped in their houses required provisions, and tradespeople carried on as best they could; by means of boats and carts they reached dry land to get what they could whenever possible. Delivering fresh water and food to marooned residents cost an already overstretched Bentley Council £4 a day.

It was estimated that around 5,000 acres of land was flooded in the Bentley area and around 1,000 houses inundated, affecting 4,000 residents and forcing 500 inhabitants out of their homes and into temporary accommodation in Bentley's schools.

The aftermath of the flood in Toll Bar, 1932

The matter of the floods was brought up in the House of Commons on the 30th of May 1932. Eventually, after some wrangling over costs and responsibilities, and a further flood in early 1933 (the third in eighteen months), the Doncaster Area Drainage Act was passed which brought an end to the misery of flooding. 

However, that wasn't the end of the story; in March 1947 the Bentley area once again sank beneath rising flood waters. This time it was a rapid thaw from the deep snowdrifts of that harsh winter that caused the problems. Thankfully, since then Bentley has kept it's feet dry, that was until the year 2007, when a freak weather event brought memories of those earlier floods back to reality. 

More 1932 flood photos at the end.

The Floods Of 2007

Toll Bar underwater, June 2007

Rain began to fall on South Yorkshire on Sunday the 24^th of June; it rained heavily all night and all the next day. Sheffield and Leeds were the first to suffer, large parts of both cities were flooded, but Doncaster only had some localised flooding at first. 

It wasn’t until Tuesday the 26^th of June that Doncaster became the main focus of concern. The Ulley Reservoir Dam near Rotherham was near to collapse and the fear was that if it went, a tidal wave would surge down the river Don and flood large parts of Doncaster and the lower Don Valley. Residents of Scawthorpe, Bentley and Arksey were advised to evacuate but efforts to reinforce the dam worked and the threat was lifted. Despite this, enormous volumes of water draining from the upper Don Valley were now finding their way into rivers, becks and drains at lower levels. 

During the night of the 26^th and 27^th the Ea Beck which runs through Bentley to Toll Bar had burst its banks and people had to be evacuated from Toll Bar and Thorpe-in-Balne.

Askern Road, Toll Bar in flood

During Wednesday the 27^th the situation became steadily worse, Toll Bar was under five feet of water and Bentley was starting to be affected too. Many of Toll Bar’s residents were taken to Adwick where a well organised relief centre had been set up at the leisure centre. In Arksey, people were warned to evacuate as a precaution. Those who could make their own way out went to Adwick Leisure Centre, while the elderly were taken there by other means. 
                                                                                           

Unfortunately, to add to people’s misery, stories of looting in Toll Bar began to emerge; as properties were left abandoned thieves started to move in and the police had to patrol in boats to protect the empty houses and shops.

By Thursday the 28^th of June Bentley High Street was under three feet of water and the whole of Bentley Road, from the Town End roundabout to the end of Arksey Lane was closed. Land around the old Thorpe Marsh Power Station was also flooded, and although the power station was now disused, the electricity sub station was still operational and there was a real danger of water getting in and cutting supplies of electricity to a large part of north east Doncaster. 

Toll Bar by boat

The army, fire services and council worked tirelessly to prevent further disasters, sand bags were flown in to reinforce the river banks. The fire service, including many extra teams from around the country used hundreds of hoses to pump water away from key areas. 

By Friday the 29^th of June Toll Bar and Bentley were headline news nationally, the situation was equally as serious as in 1932 and just like that event, government officials visited. The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, who had just taken over from Tony Blair, visited Toll Bar, and a few days later HRH Prince Charles also took the boat trip through the flooded streets of Toll Bar.

HRH Prince Charles visits flood stricken Toll Bar

While all this was going on Arksey remained dry, the village was surrounded by water but, apart from a little localised flooding on Marsh Lane, all properties were spared. By Sunday the 1^st of July the residents of Arksey had all moved back home. People in Toll Bar and Bentley were not so lucky though. By the Sunday all the water had been pumped out of Bentley High Street but lots of businesses had to start the process of drying out and repairing the damage. In Toll Bar the situation was much worse, the water, which was eight feet deep at its highest stayed for a whole week before the pumps started to make a difference. Many hundreds of people were homeless so the council built and provided a temporary caravan site so that residents could live nearby while their houses were renovated.

It would be close to eighteen months before everyone got back in their homes, many were not insured and faced hardship. The story of Toll Bar was not forgotten by the news teams who visited during the floods, BBC Look North produced a DVD telling the story of the floods and the proceeds of sales went to the flood relief fund. In another TV programme, DIY SOS, the team visited Toll Bar to renovate the home of a local foster carer and they also renovated Toll Bar Club clubhouse as a gift to the whole community.

BBC's DIY SOS team

Since the floods action has been taken to prevent a repeat performance, but I don’t think you’ll hear anyone saying ‘It won’t happen again’, that might just tempt fate.  

__________

Information on the 2007 floods was first published on sister site Arksey Village, A History in 2012. To read the whole article go to Arksey Underwater.

Photos Of Toll Bar

A selection of photos sent in by readers, and also some from my own collection.

V E Day in Toll Bar
Photo courtesy of Dawn Lisa Appleyard

Toll Bar Youth Team, July 1941, Toll Bar School
Photo courtesy of Pat Cuckson

Toll Bar scrapyard 1970
Photo courtesy of Veronica and Terry Braithwaite

Grange Road Toll Bar, early 1960's
Unknown contributor

Askern Road, Toll Bar, 1932
Photo courtesy of Dennis Canning

Askern Road 1932
Photo courtesy of Bob Lord

As above

As above

Backs of Coney Road, Toll Bar 1932

Coney Road.
Photo courtesy of Graham Westerman

Grange Road, Toll Bar 1932

As above

Manor Road, Toll Bar 1932
Photo courtesy of Bob Lord

Askern Road, Toll Bar 1932
W. Birchfield beer retailer in the background

Toll Bar School 1932

Old toll house 1932
Photo courtesy of Lorraine Bolger

Doncaster Motor Spares, Toll Bar

Toll Bar FC, 1923/24
Photo courtesy of Alan Jones 

Lush's shop in the 50's and 60's.
Photo courtesy of Scott Lush

Lush's shop interior with Mr Lush.
Photo courtesy of Scott Lush

__________

Many thanks to all contributors.


Alison Vainlo 

First written 2019, updated 2020