A151 Road - Turnpike Roads

Turnpike Roads

As elsewhere, roads in England have developed over many years. Perhaps some of the A151 lies on lines which are pre-Roman. In other words, parts are two thousand or more years old. However, change is constant and little of the road is that old. In the nature of things, these changes are poorly or not at all documented, so will be treated generally, in that light, in an overview below. The historical part of the story begins with the turnpike roads.

The A151 was originally designated such in 1921. Then, the roads were much as they had been forty or fifty years before, under the turnpike trusts. Since the Second World War, there has been much building of by-passes and the like so that the precise lines have sometimes changed but they are still fundamentally the same. The main difference in the present case is that the road designation has been extended from the A15 at Bourne to the A1 at Colsterworth, while at the other end, the easternmost three kilometres have been replaced by a new part of the A17.

In the field of acts of Parliament founding turnpike trusts, much was happening locally in 1756. The Wansford to Stamford trust on the Great North Road had been set up in 1749 but in 1756, its sphere was extended through Stamford to Bourne. The last 1.6 kilometres of this road, as the trust left it, running down the hill to Bourne Market Place, are now part of the A151. It was freed from tolls on 1 November 1871. The half of this section which lies outside the modern town was probably built by the trust between 1756 and the Bourne Enclosure Awards of 1770-16.

The Lincoln Heath to Peterborough Trust was also established in 1756. Its remit included the forerunner of the present A15 which crosses the end of the Stamford road at Bourne Market Place. However, also included with this was the road from the Stamford road west of Bourne (a place known locally as Stamford Hill)7, to Colsterworth. With the exception of the western extremity, in Colsterworth village, this is now part of the A151. It was freed from tolls on 1 November 1882.

The Lincoln Heath to Peterborough trust was organized in districts of which that covering the road from Colsterworth to Stamford Hill, Bourne was the ‘’West District’’. In 1860, it was re-grouped with the ‘’Middle District’’ which extended from Graby Bar (TF091295) to Market Deeping (TF138099)8.

From Spalding, through Holbeach to Long Sutton, beyond the end of the modern A151, the road was turnpiked in 17649. It was freed from tolls on 1 November 1866. It may not be coincidental that this was the year of the final opening of the railway from Bourne to King's Lynn, the line having been opened in stages from 1858. This road was declared a main road by the Highways Act of 1878.

The road from Bourne to Spalding was turnpiked in 1822 and freed from tolls in 1860. It was declared a main road by the Highways Act of 1878. Before 1822, this section was in three parts. One led out from Bourne onto Bourne North Fen. The Spalding end led out from Spalding to the Spalding and Pinchbeck fen edge bank. The linking section was not officially a road. There was however, some droving traffic which was frowned upon by the drainage authorities, whose embankments it tended to erode. According to Cary's map of 1787, the official route ran via Tongue End (TF155188) and crossed the River Glen at Gurthram (TF173224).