40 



Broughton Gifford. 



stile in the parish of Lacock; and for completing a communication 

 between the said road and the Bath turnpike road on Kingsdown 

 hill." Hence arose a great change in our means of communication. 

 The road which now runs along the south of the parish, between 

 Holt and Melksham, was then cut ; so also was the road across the 

 common. The then existing roads were improved. For the new 

 road a portion of the glebe was taken, which Mr. Robert Addams 

 Hickes, the then rector, thus commemorates in a terrier dated 1783. 

 " N.B. About 20 years ago on making a Turnpike road from Melk- 

 sham to Holt, Bradford, &c, rather more than an acre and a half 

 was taken from the glebe through part of which the road passes. 

 The turnpike commissioners valued this ground at £50, gave a 

 bond for this money to Mr. Hickes the incumbent, and agreed to 

 pay the interest of this sum, viz. 50s. per annum, to Mr. Hickes 

 and his successors for ever." The commissioners were too much 

 for good easy Mr. Hickes and his successors. The whole transac- 

 tion was illegal. They had no power to give a bond instead of 

 money. Their paper was not the " Government securities " re- 

 quired in the act. And so loss has come on the "successors." The 

 " 50s. per annum for ever " is now 20s. Had the £50 been inves- 

 ted as directed by the act, it would have realised about £3 per 

 annum; were the land available to let, it would be worth about 

 £4 10s. The commissioners "for ever" was terminated a few years 

 since by the Home Secretary. The trust was insolvent. The re- 

 pairs of the roads were thrown on the parish, but the toll-gates 

 remain to pay the bondholders. So that the unhappy rate-payers 

 are doubly taxed : they pay tolls for the use of the roads, which 

 they also repair. Lord Palmerston, as Home Secretary, interfered, 

 by a provisional order, reducing the rate of interest from 5 to 2 

 per cent., and winding up the whole concern within 20 years. The 

 grievance, arising from the intermixture of trusts and their 

 insolvency in this neighbourhood, is probably not surpassed else- 

 where. 



Our roads, turnpike qua tolls, parochial qua repairs, are six 

 miles in extent. They cost us £120 a year. Of this the carriage 

 is about £50, the material £20, the labour £50. The Wilts, 



