CHAP. IX.
THE GREAT NORTH ROAD.
IT must be acknowledged, that Retford, standing on the line of the Great North Road, from edinburgh-to London, is considerably enlivened and benefitted by the constant succession of travellers whose business or pleasure may lead them to visit or pass through it. Formerly, however, it did not contribute much to the welfare of the town, but passed across the forest, leaving the present line at Markham Moor, and entering it again at Barnby Moor: from this circumstance may be inferred the paucity of information which we possess respecting the state of the town at different periods of its history, as it was considered out of the course of general tourists, and consequently but little noticed. One traveller, however, seems to have made Retford in his route,.—I allude to drunken Barnaby, who, hi one of his peregrinations to the north, took up his quarters here, and of which he wrote in his usual rhyming style as follows,
"Thence to Retford, fish I fed on,
And to th’ adage, I had read on,
With carouses I did trim me,
That my fish might swim within me,
As they had done being living
And in the river nimbly diving."
About the middle of the eighteenth century, the advantages of bringing the line of the North Road through Retford, became quite apparent to the inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood. I find the following minute in the books belonging to the Corporation.
"Jan. 26th, 1757.—It was ordered that the Town Clerk should write to Mr. Bright, the junior bailiff," (who was then in London,) "desiring him in the name of the bailiffs and burgesses to apply to the Members of Parliament; for the Borongh, to bring a Bill into Parliament to make a road or turnpike from where the old guide post stood upon Markham Common, to a bridge upon the North River in Scrooby parish, and that he should wait upon the county members, desiring their concurrence and assistance in getting the same enacted."
For some years after this, however, the measure lay dormant, and, as is generally the case in most new undertakings, numerous obstacles presented themselves, which were not fully overcome until the year 1760, when an Act of Parliament was obtained, the preamble of which runs as follows— "Whereas, the road leading from Bawtry, in the county of York, through Barnby Moor and East Retford, in the county of Nottingham, and from East Retford to the south end of East Markham Common, called the West Moor, where it joins, the Great North Road, leading from London to York; and also the road from Little Drayton, to a certain bridge, called. Twyford Bridge, in the said county of Nottingham, is narrow and ruinous, and cannot be sufficiently repaired, widened, and kept in repair, by the ordinary course of law: May it please, &c.
In this Act one hundred and sixty eight trustees are named, out of which two only now survive; these are A. H. Eyre, Esq. of Grove, and his brother the Rev. Archdeacon Eyre, of Babworth. The first general meeting of the trustees was held at Mr. John Booth’s, the Crown Inn, at East Retford, on friday, May 9th, 1760.
From this time a new era commenced in the history of this town, and the vivifying rays of commerce began to shed their invigorating influence over the town and neighbourhood. The heavy carriages which were then employed in the conveyance of merchandize, and all letters intended for this part of the country, came direct to the town, and Retford began to assume an additional importance and respectability.
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