Monument record 1504000000 - Stokenchurch to River Colne turnpike road

ROAD B: FROM THE COUNTY BOUNDARY (RIVER COLNE) N.W. OF UXBRIDGE TO THE COUNTY BOUNDARY W. OF STOKENCHURCH.
When originally turnpiked in 1719, the stretch from Beaconsfield to Stokenchurch (now A40) was part of the road from London to Oxford, Birmingham and Worcester. The section from the River Colne to Beaconsfield was turnpiked in 1751: it was added to the Wendover to Buckingham Turnpike Trust and remained part of that trust until 1852 when the Beaconsfield and Red Hill Trust was formed and took over the road as far as the River Colne.
There were five toll gates along the road (Stokenchurch being in Oxon until transferred to Bucks in 1896). The Denham gate, opposite the 'Dog and Duck' (TQ 048 851), was taken over from the Wendover and Oak Lane Trust in 1852 (Road C) and demolished in 1931. The Red Hill gate (also taken over from the Wendover and Oak Lane Trust) was near the 18th milestone (TQ 020 872). The toll house was demolished for road widening in 1929. The Holtspur gate was at the north end of the road from Hedsor and W of Over Farm, between milestones 24 and 25 (SU 924 898). The gate in High Wycombe was by the 29th milestone (SU 874 927): it was pulled down in 1826 and replaced by a new toll bar. The toll house was dismantled in 1978 and re-erected in 1983/84 at the Chiltern Open Air Museum, complete with toll board. The West Wycombe gate was at the junction with the road to Princes Risborough (SU 834 947). On Bryant's map a gate is shown across both the Oxford road and the Princes Risborough road at this junction; presumably it came into being after 1795 when the road to Princes Risborough was turnpiked.
There was a weighing engine at the 'Wycombe' gate, almost certainly High Wycombe, at least from 1831. It was still there in 1867, when the trust ceased to exist, but was considered unnecessary for the town in future (B1).