Toll bars were once a familiar sight on the route between Keighley and Halifax, as Robin Longbottom explains

UNTIL the late 18th century, travelling the 12 miles from Keighley to Halifax was an arduous undertaking.

The highway was little more than a packhorse track – despite early improvements having been made by the Keighley and Halifax Turnpike Trust, which was created in 1753.

The route left Keighley by way of Coney Lane, taking a right turn at Hog Holes and along Glen Lee Lane to the Guide Inn. From the Guide it passed down to Cullingworth, up to Manywells and Denholme and from there it meandered through several moorland hamlets to Illingworth and Ovenden before finally reaching Halifax.

However, in the 1780s Keighley’s industrialists and landowners invested money in the trust to build a completely new highway to link the two towns, resulting in what is now the modern A629.

This new road was built from High Street in Keighley to Ingrow along what became Bridge Street and South Street.

It required two new bridges, one to cross the North Beck at the end of Church Street and the other to cross the River Worth at Ingrow. From Ingrow a new road was cut along the hillside to Hermit Hole and through to what is now Cross Roads, where it crossed the old road from Haworth to Bingley.

The new road then continued over Sugden Edge to Flappit Springs and on to Manywells Heights and Denholme. It left Denholme along a new section of road to Denholme Gate and from there the old road was widened and straightened over the moor to Causeway Foot, through to Illingworth and Ovenden before finally arriving in Halifax.

The investors were not only looking to improve trade between the two towns but also hoped that their investments would return substantial profits through charging tolls to use the road.

To charge for the use of the road, toll bars were established at suitable points along the route, usually at a road junction or crossing. Four major toll bars were built – the Keighley Bar, which was located on South Street close to the present junction with Worth Way; Emanuel's Bar at Manywells Heights on the approach to Denholme (Manywells was said to be a corruption of Emanuel's); Denholme Gate Bar at the Brighouse road junction, and Lee Bridge Bar in Halifax. These four bars were all fitted with gates.

In addition to the four major bars there were three minor bars – Cross Roads, Flappit Springs and Long Causeway Bottom (Causeway Foot). These were chain bars where instead of a gate, a chain was drawn across the road to halt traffic until the toll was paid. By 1820 the Cross Roads chain bar appears to have been abandoned, possibly because it was unprofitable as it was so close to Flappit Springs. Following the closure, the trust applied to Parliament in 1822 to open a new chain bar at Old Lane in Ovenden.

The new turnpike road encouraged development along the route out of Keighley. Old mills expanded and new ones were built, together with rows of houses that would eventually form an almost continuous link between the town and Cross Roads. New inns were established, the Cross Roads Inn and the Fleece Inn at Flappit, to cater for travellers and shops and beer houses sprang up to cater for the communities along the way.

With the coming of the railways, the turnpike roads lost much of their commercial and public traffic. And in 1857, the Turnpike Abolition Act was passed to gradually phase them out. Ten years later – in July, 1867 – the toll bars between Keighley and Halifax were removed, and free passage was granted for all to pass along the road.