Reprinted from the Numismatic Society of Nottinghamshire Facebook page. 12 April 2025
Gainsborough Toll Bridge – “A Vexatious Anachronism”
The top picture shows the opening of Gainsborough Bridge in its new existence as a free bridge. The grinning bloke on the left, with cap and satchel, is now out of a job.
This 38mm white metal medallion commemorates the freeing of Gainsborough Bridge from tolls in 1932. Tolls were, and still are, a contentious subject for road users. In 1930 there were 88 Toll Bridges (24 being on A Roads) and 55 Toll Bars in England. The newspaper article which provided this information also provided the title, as the reporter was clearly not in favour of tolls. One example he gave was a man who paid £30 a year in tolls – twice the cost of his car tax. Apart from the cost, people also objected to the delays and congestion, and the effect some tolls had on the education of children from poor families, who had to pay pedestrian tolls to go to school.. Today we have around 23 toll roads and bridges in the UK, some being used to finance major new projects and some being Victorian survivals.
The M6 Toll motorway, in case you are interested, has 2.5 million pulped Mills & Boon novels incorporated into the tarmac. This helps with reducing wear and absorbing sound. The books were not chosen with any idea of literary criticism in mind – it’s just that they are printed in such great quantities that there is a large supply of returned and damaged books.
The purchase of Gainsborough Bridge from the company that operated it took many years. There were numerous discussions and false starts noted from at least 1882 until 1912, when a price of £35,000 was offered. It was a good business and the owners were not keen on selling. They had the only bridge between Dunham (which is still a toll bridge today) and the Humber and it was protected by the Gainsborough Bridge Act ,which prevented rival bridges and ferry services.
On the other hand, local tradesmen wanted to free the bridge from tolls as they could see great benefits from unrestricted access.
In 1923 the councils of Nottinghamshire, Lindsey (one of the ancient divisions of Lincolnshire) and Gainsborough, agreed to seek a grant from the Ministry of Transport (using new legislation passed to encourage this sort of scheme) and have a price set by arbitration. Profits from tolls were over £7,000 in that year, and rising steadily. A new bridge, outside the area of monopoly would have cost about £80,000 but Nottinghamshire County Council would not fund the extra road building to connect the bridge to the existing roads. A tunnel was also suggested, but was too expensive.
The bridge was eventually purchased on 31 October 1927, as noted on the medallion, for £130,000 (half of which was paid by the Government). The councils provided the other half of the cost. Pedestrians and cyclists were freed from all tolls and other users continued paying at a reduced rate, with the intention of raising a quarter of the purchase price by continuing tolls for up to seven years.
Eventually, having raised the required money, the joint committee declared the bridge to be free from tolls. The last man to pay a toll was P. J. Pybus, Minister of Transport, who paid his toll with a coin of George III in recognition of the age of the bridge – opened in 1771, and retained his ticket as a souvenir, before declaring the bridge open. Below is a picture of the last toll being paid.
