Britain's Turnpike

choi

Daniel Hannan, The Lessons of the Turnpike; How a network of new roads--built by private companies before bureaucrats took over--fueled commerce and revitalized regions. Wall Street Journal, Jan 19, 2012
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... 56850285031384.html
(book review on Jo Guldi, Roads to Power; Britain invents the infrastructure state. Harvard Univ Press, 2012)

Quote:  

"Central government [of Britain] began building roads in 1726. * * * Then a reaction set in, as taxpayers and localists objected to funding a national road network. Between 1836 and 1880, not a single new highway was paid for by the central state. Infrastructure was built by private companies, financed by tolls, and largely overseen by counties and parishes. It wasn't long, though, before bureaucrats took command again, and they held it more or less uninterruptedly since.

"Ms Guldi [author] pays remarkable little attention to the immediate cause of private road network's failure, namely the arrival of rails. One largely private technology challenged another and, while the older was in no sense eclipsed, it did lose its monopoly.

Note:
(a)
(i) turnpike
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnpike
(ii) turnpike trust
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnpike_trust
(section 1 Etymology)

(b) mire (n):
www.m-w.com
(c) Holyhead
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holyhead
(d) Menai Strait
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menai_Strait
(Welsh: Afon Menai, the "River Menai"; separates the island of Anglesey from the mainland of Wales; the narrowest is 400 meters)
(e)
(i) suspension bridge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_bridge
(the first suspension bridge actually built was by American engineer and inventor James Finley at Jacob’s Creek, in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, in 1801; Early British chain bridges included the Dryburgh Abbey Bridge (1817) and 137 m Union Bridge (1820), with spans rapidly increasing to 176 m with the Menai Suspension Bridge (1826))
(ii) James Finley (engineer)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Finley_(engineer)
(His Jacob's Creek Bridge, built in 1801 for US$600, and demolished in 1833, was the first example of a suspension bridge)
(iii) Menai Suspension Bridge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menai_Suspension_Bridge
(between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales; Designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1826, it was the first modern suspension bridge in the world)
(f) Yorkshire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkshire
(g) parish
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parish
(section 1 1 Etymology and use; A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest * * * from a more or less central parish church)
(h) The review mentioned "Stuart pretenders."
(A) House of Stuart
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Stuart
(1.1 Etymology; Founder  Robert II of Scotland [in 1371]; Final sovereign  Anne of Great Britain: "After her death [in 1714], all the holdings passed to the House of Hanover, under the terms of the Act of Settlement 1701")  

House of Tudor preceded House of Stuart, which was followed by House of Hanover.

(B) Robert II of Scotland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_II_of_Scotland
(1316-1390; became King of Scots in 1371 as the first monarch of the House of Stewart. He was the son of Walter Stewart)

How did Robert II become King?

His parents were Walter (a stewart) and Marjorie Bruce--daughter of Robert I, King of Scots. After Robert I's son Edward died, Robert Stewart became heir presumptive to his grandfather (Robert I). But the King Robert I remarried and his second wife produced a son, the future king David II. David died in 1371 and Robert Stewart succeeded.
(C) pretender
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretender
(section 6.1 England, Scotland and Great Britain: James Francis Edward Stuart, Charles Edward Stuart/Bonnie Prince Charlie, and Henry Benedict Stuart, younger brother of Charles Edward)

(i) macadam
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macadam
(a type of road construction pioneered by the Scotsman John Loudon McAdam in around 1820; section 2.2 McAdam's methods)