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Summary

Location of early 19th century castellated toll house, demolished in 1966 after a period as accommodation for local farmworkers

Monument Type(s):

• TOLL HOUSE (19th century to Mid to Late 19th century - 1807 AD to 1870 AD?)
• ESTATE COTTAGE (Late 19th century to Mid 20th century - 1871 AD? to 1966 AD)

Full Description

An early 19th century Gothic toll house stood on the Bath Road at Halfway between Newbury and Hungerford. It was a two storey castellated round house that was demolished in 1966 <1><2><3>. It had been announced in 1956 that it was to be scheduled as a building of architectural and historic interest, but it was in a poor structural condition and the owners, Sir Richard Sutton Settled Estates, applied for an improvement grant <3>. It is not clear whether the building was ever listed, but in 1958 it was threatened with demolition after the District Council apparently refused to make a grant of half the cost. Despite efforts to save it and an offer of £150 by the Georgian Group towards the cost of preservation, the building seems to have been considered an eyesore, and news of its impending demolition was given at a meeting of Newbury District Council's Housing Committee in April 1966 <3>.

The First Edition Ordnance Survey mapping <4> shows a small circular structure with four very small wings, presumably the windows of the toll house. It is marked as the Hoe Benham turnpike. The building was still in existence when Pevsner visited Berkshire <5>; he described Halfway House as 'the favourite of all travellers on the Bath Road' and dated it as late 18th century. Photographs shows its castellations and both round and pointed arched windows <10><14><15>.

Two histories of Kintbury <6><12> include information on the 'Round House' although it lay outside the parish boundary. It was a well known local landmark and was probably built in 1810. It was the site of a fatal accident in 1910, recorded in a motoring history of the Kennet Valley <15>. It became attached to Halfway Farm after its use as a tollhouse and was used as farm workers' accommodation until the cost of necessary repairs led to its demolition in the 1960s. A previous toll point had been at the Kintbury parish gate just to the east of the Avington-Radley crossroads; there had also been an earlier toll house at Halfway, which was square in shape, shown on a mid 18th century map <12>.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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