Topcliffe Toll Booth
Topcliffe Toll Booth is a historic building in Topcliffe, North Yorkshire, a village in England.
A single-storey toll booth was constructed in the 17th century, to collect tolls from the adjacent market. A local tradition claims that a ransom for Charles I of Great Britain was paid in the building to Scottish troops during the English Civil War. A second storey was added in the 19th century, and the lower storey was altered. The building was grade II listed in 1952.[1][2] The building has served variously as a jail, a reading room, and a meeting place for the court leet.[2][3] In 1968, there were plans to demolish the building to improve traffic flow, but these were not taken up.[4] By 2004, the downstairs room was used for storage, and the upstairs room as a snooker club. That year, the parish council planned to convert it into a village hall with historical displays and tourist information.[3]
The house is built of stone with quoins and a stone slate roof. It has two storeys and three bays. On the front are two doorways with plain lintels, and a similar doorway on the right return. The upper floor contains casement windows with wedge lintels, and at the rear a flight of 13 steps with a coped parapet leads up to a doorway with a wedge lintel.[1][5]
See also
References
- ^ a b Historic England. "The Old Tolbooth, Topcliffe (1189002)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 18 February 2026.
- ^ a b Page, William (1923). A History of the County of York North Riding: Volume 2. London: Victoria County History. Retrieved 18 February 2026.
- ^ a b "New lease of life planned for toll booth". Northern Echo. 22 July 2004. Retrieved 19 February 2026.
- ^ Lloyd, Chris (2 March 2018). "On This Day, Friday, March 2: Mysteries of aliens and kings". Darlington and Stockton Times. Retrieved 19 February 2026.
- ^ Grenville, Jane; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2023) [1966]. Yorkshire: The North Riding. The Buildings of England. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-25903-2.