What was wrong with Britain’s
roads in 1750?
L/O – To examine the problems with Britain’s transport
system and to illustrate how the roads were improved
Starter – How long do you think it would take to
travel from London to Edinburgh by Horse and Cart
in 1750?
What have we studied so far?
Agricultural
Revolution
Industrial
Revolution
Transport
Revolution
Pressures on Transport in 18th Century
1.
2.
3.
4.
Growing towns
Growing population
Growing factories
Growing trade with
empire
5. Growing movement
of people (work,
army)
Explain how each of the above factors
would put pressure on Britain’s roads.
Britain’s Road System in 1750
• The agricultural and
industrial changes meant that
a lot more goods and people
needed to be transported.
• This left the roads rutted and
full of huge potholes. Coaches
became stuck and some
people even drowned in the
potholes!
• To make matters worse,
passengers in stagecoaches
were often robbed by
highwaymen.
Time for Turnpikes
• Businesses were starting to
lose money because of the
state of the roads so the
government started to act.
• Britain’s roads were divided
up and rented to a ‘turnpike
trust’. These trusts promised
to improve their road and in
return they could charge a
‘toll’
• Turnpike roads had gates at
each end where toll keepers
collected the money.
Consequences of the Turnpikes
• By 1830, there were nearly 1000
Answer
Questions
1-3
turnpike trusts
improving over
20,000on
miles
of British
page
37roads.
• Before it would take 2 weeks to
travel from London to
Edinburgh. By 1830 it took only
48hours!
• The money made from the roads
enabled inventors to design
even better roads.
• Thomas Telford and John
McAdam designed cheap and
sturdy roads but McAdam’s were
more popular.
Plenary
1. Describe two ways in which Britain’s roads
were being put under pressure in 1750
2. Describe two problems with Britain’s roads
in 1750.
3. How did turnpikes improve the roads?
4. Name 2 types of road that were designed.
Did we meet our learning objective?
L/O – To examine the problems with Britain’s transport
system and to illustrate how the roads were improved