Welcome to The Toll Road Project
Scotland's Forgotten Roads
In 1750 Scotland was on the brink of a period of major industrial and agrarian change that would transform the lives of the Scottish people. Key to this was the simultaneous arrival of the turnpike or toll road innovation that would revolutionise Scotland’s road network and play a pivotal role in the coming century.
This project has sought to fill a gap in our understanding by charting the chronological and geographical development of Scotland’s turnpikes; one crucial element of which is the mapping of the toll roads.
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ESRI’s ArcGIS 10.5 Geographic Information System software was used to map Toll Roads for three periods: (1750-1770), (1770- 1790), and (1790-1800).
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Mapping of the toll roads has provided a way to help improve our understanding of an innovation that played a critical role in an equally critical period of Scottish history. The maps produced have helped to visualise the evolution of the toll road network over both space and time, opening a door to further study of this forgotten road network. The result is a simple set of GIS maps, but ones that provide significant insight into the major periods of growth and decline in the Scottish toll road network and can be clearly linked to major economic, operational, and social transformations.
Get Involved
The Toll Road Project is run by volunteers and is an ongoing project. We are always happy to hear from you whether you have an enquiry or knowledge to share.
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