Turnpike Trusts and County Roads Board records

Records comprising copies of turnpike acts, 1763-1835; records relating to Carmarthenshire Main Trust, 1799-1845, including order books, 1804-1845, letters, 1826-1845, bills and miscellaneous papers, 1800-1845, accounts, 1805-1845, balance sheets, 1823-1842, vouchers and receipts, 1837-1845, quarterly labour account books, 1804-1840, legal papers 1823-1834, petitions and reports relating to several toll gates and papers relating to toll gate damage, 1843-1844, papers relating to surveyors, 1812-1844, and the construction of new roads, 1799-1828; Carmarthen and Newcastle Turnpike Trust minutes, 1834-1845, and statements of expenditure, 1835; Kidwelly Trust records, 1779-1845; Llandeilo Rwnws Trust minutes, 1784-1845, papers and deeds, 1791-1844; Tivyside Trust minutes, 1809-1834; Carmarthenshire County Roads Board minutes, 1845-1889, expenditure, 1845-1899, letters, 1850-1862; minutes, letters, accounts, expenditure and other papers of Carmarthen, Llandovery, Llanelly, Three Commotts and Llandilofawr District Roads Boards, 1845-1889; and Carmarthenshire County Council, Main Roads Sub-committee, minutes, 1899-1903.

Turnpike trusts were created by private Acts of Parliament. They comprised a group of trustees, usually members of the local gentry, and funds were provided by subscribers (or tally holders). Their purpose was to upgrade specific stretches of road and they were authorised to levy tolls in order to repay their subscribers. In Carmarthenshire the first trust, known as the Main Trust, was set up in 1763 to improve the important east-west road traversing the county. It was eventually joined by another dozen trusts, responsible for their own stretches of road, and in some instances bridges. They included the Kidwelly Trust, the Llandeilo and Llandybie Trust, the Llandeilo Rwnws Bridge Trust, the Three Commotts Trust, the Carmarthen and Lampeter Trust and Carmarthen and Newcastle Trust. In the aftermath of the Rebecca Riots (1839-1844) the report of the "Commission of Inquiry for South Wales" recommended changes to the turnpike system. This resulted in the abolition of the Trusts and the creation of the Carmarthenshire County Roads Board in 1845 to supervise the road system, along with several district roads boards to administer them. These in turn were abolished with the formation in 1889 of Carmarthenshire County Council and its Main Roads Sub-committee

Volumes TT 1 - 46 are arranged alphabetically; the remainder of the fonds is unarranged.

Ar Agor / Open

Dim cyfyngiadau / No Restrictions

Adnau preifat / Private deposit

Mae copiau clawr caled o`r catalogau ar gael yn Archifau Sir Gaerfyrddin ac yn y Gofrestr Cenedlaethol Archifau. Polisi Archifau Sir Gaerfyrddin yw catalogio yn iaith y ddogfen / Hard copies of the catalogue are available at Carmarthenshire Archives and the National Register of Archives. It is the policy of Carmarthenshire Archives to catalogue in the language of the document.

Cyflwr da / Good condition

Compiled by Rhys Jones for Archifau Sir Gaerfyrddin / Carmarthenshire Archives using the following source: Carmarthenshire Archives Service, Turnpike Trust Records; Williams, David, The Rebecca Riots: A Study in Agrarian Discontent (Cardiff, 1955); National Library of Wales, Cardiganshire County Roads Board.

Mae'r holl gofnodiadau sy'n cydymffurfio â pholisi casglu Archifau Sir Gaerfyrddin wedi eu cadw / All records which meet the collection policy of the Carmarthenshire Archives have been retained

Deposited in Carmarthenshire Record Office.

Mae croniadau yn bosibl / Accruals are possible

Further records are in Carmarthenshire Archives Service, Aberglasney; Antiquarian Society Scrap Books; Cawdor Collection; Dynevor.