Buckden - a Huntingdonshire Village

BUCKDEN IN THE TURNPIKE ERA 203 original 60 marker, given that the 62 milestone can be seen at the entrance to the waste disposal site on the Brampton road, just outside the Buckden boundary. Records exist of the tolls paid at Southoe which give an idea of the rise and decline of the turnpike era. In 1725 the Southoe gate raised £154 15s. 7d. in tolls. By 1750 it rose to £383 15s. 7d., increasing to £517 8s. 9d. by 1769. The Hinchingbrooke map above dates from the decline of the coaching era. The Southoe tolls in 1849 were £360; in 1850 £304; in 1851 £204 and in 1852 only £180. (In contrast the Paxton gate was £170 in 1849 and £154 5s. 6d. in 1852). The Buckden trustees Among the ninety or so appointees to the Biggleswade to Alconbury trust are some familiar Buckden names. In some cases, this may be a coincidence, but the following inhabitants of the parish and surrounding villages may well be the persons named in the Act; if nothing else, they are from the right social background! Robert Bell, Esq. (died and buried in Buckden, 1757) Dr George Reynolds (lawyer-clergyman of the Stirtloe/Little Paxton Reynolds family) George Thornhill, Esq. (of Diddington) John Williams, Gent. (died and buried in Buckden, 1739) WilliamWindress, Esq. (died and buried in Buckden, 1737) Compiled by Peter Ibbett, with grateful acknowledgements to the Huntingdon Record Office (as it was: now the Huntingdonshire Archives) and its helpful staff, and Mrs Rosa Young and the St Neots History Society and their excellent newsletter. Sources for this chapter Albert, William, The Turnpike Road System in England: 1663 – 1840 (Cambridge: CUP, 1972) Defoe, Daniel, A Tour through the whole island of Great Britain (London: Folio Society, 2007) Hey, David (Editor), The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History (Oxford: OUP, 1998) Houfe, Simon (Editor), Through Visitors’ Eyes: A Bedfordshire Anthology (Dunstable: The Book Castle, 1990)