The first meeting of the joint Epping Highway Trust took place at Epping Place inn on 2nd May 1769. The Trustees consisted of 49 gentlemen including John Conyers Esq. (Treasurer), Jacob Houblon Esq. (Junior) from Coopersale house and seven Reverends. The first order was for a board to be painted with tolls & hung at the gates when the Epping & Ongar Turnpike Act came into force. Tolls were to be taken at the gate near Epping Place for the 1st month, then at the Thornwood Common gate (lower gate) 2nd month etc., the other to be left open.
Another proposal was removing the turnpike at the west end of town to 'that side of the windmill belonging to John Conyers, Esq. near Epping Place, which is nearest to the town of Epping'. It was also proposed that a new gate & rails should be fixed across the road & common from 'John Bishop's house to Peter White's house, as being the shortest & least expensive route & nearest the town'. A counter proposal was for 'a new gate & rails to be fixed across from the hedge near the corner of Hornfield, in the possession of John Tanner, to a large elm tree near William Robert's house , nearest the windmill'. The latter won by 24 to 22 votes.
The fence ran along the road down to Hawcock lane (now Ivy Chimneys). It was later discovered that people were managing to avoid the turnpike by passing behind the windmill, and a fence was built across the lane with a gate, left unlocked for foot passengers to and from Theydon Bois. Today it is still remembered by the Forest Gate Inn. The Turnpike house itself was erected on the right-hand side of the road going to London in brick work, with a lean-to but no cellar. A high railing was also to be made 20 yards from the gate and a double ditch with posts & two rails on the bank at a cost of £234 14s 3d. The house is still there today, now known as Bellvue, by the Bell traffic lights.
The people in Thornwood had a major grievance with the turnpike, with good reason; they were being charged to go to church. In 1793 a new act decreed that inhabitants of Thornwood were not to be asked for tolls for going to church and back, and any tolls previously taken for this reason were to be repaid to them. They weren't the only ones with a grievance. Clergymen visiting parishioners and the sick or dying were also being charged. A series of exemptions were laid out to rectify this. People did not have to pay when going to or returning from their place of worship on any day when 'divine service is ordered by the authority to be celebrated, nor when attending the funeral of a person dying and to be buried by either of the parishes through which the road passes'.
Also included were clergymen visiting the sick or performing their parochial or ministerial duties on the day mentioned and carts carrying manure or gravel for mending roads. On January 5th 1829 in consequence of the representation of Mr. Henry Gilby, the proprietor of the Stortford coach, stage coaches were in future to be relieved from payment of the original tolls, taken 3 days before and 3 days after the fairs in the neighbourhood, at which time both gates were shut and tolls taken'. Many people passed through the turnpike quite frequently, not just on Sundays or Market days. They could, if they wished, buy a season ticket. Inhabitants of parishes were allowed to compound all their trips under a single sum per annum. In 1769 John Conyers paid one guinea, a year in advance, for his horses, carriages & family, and servants. The Rev. Mr Salt, resident minister of Epping chapel, paid 2s per annum, Joseph Doubleday the grocer 10/6d.
Toll Charges in 1816
If drawn by more than two horses 1s 0d
For every waggon or wain drawn by six horses or less 1s 6d
For every waggon or wain drawn by more than six horses 2s 0d
For every limber carriage drawn by three or more horses or mules 2s 0d
And if with less … 1s 6d
For every mare, gelding, mule, horse or ass not drawing 0s 1d
For neat cattle by the score 0s 10d
For calves, swine, sheep or lambs by the score 0s-5d.
Commercial and Mail Coach's calling at Epping in Essex ...
To London
The Stortford Coach at 5 o'clock p.m.
The Fakenham at 8 o'clock a.m.
The Norwich Coach at 9 o'clock a.m.
The Cambridge "Times" at 10 o'clock a.m.
The Cambridge Coach at 2 o'clock p.m.
The Bury Coach at 11 o'clock p.m.
The Swaffham Coach at 8 o'clock p.m.
The "Magnet" from Norwich at 4 o'clock a.m.
The Norwich Mail at 5 o'clock a.m.
The Walden Coach at 2 o'clock p.m.
The Harlow Coach at 9 o'clock a.m.
The Thetford Coach at 9 o'clock a.m.
The Dunmow Coach at 9 o'clock a.m.
From London
The Thetford Coach at 9 o'clock a.m.
The Fakenham at 8 o'clock a.m.
The Cambridge Coach at 12 o'clock a.m.
The Bury Coach at 4 o'clock p.m.
The Cambridge "Times" at 5 o'clock p.m.
The Norwich Coach at 6 o'clock p.m.
The "Magnet" to Norwich at 8 o'clock p.m.
The Swaffham Coach at 8 o'clock p.m.
The Norwich Mail at 10 o'clock p.m.
The Walden Coach at 12 o'clock p.m.
The Harlow Coach at 6 o'clock p.m.
The Stortford Coach at 5 o'clock p.m.
The Dunmow Coach at 9 o'clock a.m.
(From an Almanac published by Mr Griffith, printer & stationer of Epping. Essex)
In 1750 a coach ran through Chipping Ongar 3 times weekly and in 1764 the Ongar 'Crown' landlord sponsored a 'New Machine' to run from Fyfield through Ongar to London. One of these 2 coaches soon ceased, the other continued for nearly the rest of the century.
In addition there were 2 Epping coaches, each performing 2 journeys a day, making the total number of coaches to and from Epping 25 a day. Each coach was driven by four horses, and each called at a particular inn, where the horses would be stabled.
The coach guard played a series of particular calling notes when arriving at the inn. There were also post horses, many of them used by travellers to ride to the Newmarket races.
Other horses were required for the yellow post chaises then in use, as well as for the coaches kept by a number of local county families. These were usually equipped to carry the family and their luggage long distances, so would be drawn by a four-in-hand. Epping by the 1790's was served by coaches making 46 journeys a week.
Purely local services did not develop until end of 18th Century and then only on a small scale. Without a horse, local people relied on their feet or a carrier’s cart.