Turnpike Bridges

Turnpike Bridges, Scrooby, Notts

Graham Robbins

The main road bypasses the heart of the village of Scrooby. This line was established in 1776 when this section of the Great North Road was turnpiked. A turnpike was a toll road maintained by a private company. A section of turnpiked road had toll bars at intervals at which road-users were charged.

Scrooby's toll house stood on the higher ground north of the River Ryton. The platform of the building can still be seen by the side of the road; but nothing of the building itself now remains. The toll charges were displayed on a board, which is now displayed on the wall of the Village Hall. The charges depended on the size of the vehicle and the width of the vehicle's wheels; narrower wheels did more damage to the road surface.

The extant features of the turnpike are the two red brick bridges which are part of the causeway carrying the road over the flood plain of the River Ryton. West Bear Meadows lies to the west of the causeway. Otter Pits lies to the east. The bridges allow flood waters to discharge across the flood plain.

The bridges could be seen 'in action' in the summer of 2007 when the whole of the flood plain was under water following the heavy rains. The flood waters backed up behind the causeway, funelled through the bridges at a terrific speed.

Following the floods, Dave and Christine Hull have redug the drainage ditch along the eastern side of West Bear Meadows, parallel with the road. The excavations revealed the footings and construction of one of the bridges.

The bridges were built on a raft of gravel and clay bounded by horizontal timber beams held in place by vertical timber posts. A brick surface was laid over the top of the clay and gravel footings, upon which the visable structure of the bridge was constructed. The massive single-piece horizontal timber beams are approximately the length of six railway sleepers, and of roughly the same height and width as a sleeper.

The ditch also shows the dark peaty organic-rich soils which have developed on the Ryton's flood plain. These soils are in marked contrast to the dry sandy soils of the majority of the area.