Lundinmill Toll Bar - Part Two

The tide began to turn again the turnpike road system in the 1840s, as railways began to expand and road users became frustrated by the network.  From the 1860s, turnpike trusts began to be wound up and replaced by local highway boards. Nevertheless, the Lundinmill Toll Bar lasted for some time after the arrival of the railway in Lundin Links and Largo in 1857. At the time of the 1861 census the occupier of the Lundin MIll Toll House was Peter Ormiston and his family. Peter was described as "Toll Tacksman employing 4 men". In the 1871 census, John Myles was the toll collector residing in the Lundinmill toll house.  By the end of that decade, however, things had changed.  Many toll bars had closed and Mr Myles (although living in the same house) was now occupied as a gardener and the house was now referred to as the "Old Toll House". We can presume that the closure took place towards the end of the 1870s.  A 'Lament for Toll-Bars' was written by T.P. Johnston and published in the Fife Herald on 26 June 1879.  It ran to twenty verses long - here are the best bits...

"The toll-house stands at the town end
Deserted and forlorn,
Its tariff down, its steelyard gone,
Its post and bars uptorn

I ought to ban that robber's hold,
As I have often banned,
When late for train on full career,
Its barrier made me stand.

Or when at night returning
From the convivial board,
I found the bar was padlocked,
And the tollman lay and snored.
...
A toll was always some place
Where coach that went to town,
Could take your note up as it passed,
Or hand your parcel down.

A toll was always some place,
Where men might rendezvous,
To gossip when their work was done,
And interchange their view.
...
And so when grumbling by and by,
Perhaps we'll sigh and say -
How useful and how picturesque,
Were toll-bars in their day.

We'll have our artists painting them,
Our bards shall sing their praise,
Our antiquarians will dig,
A buried post to raise...."

So, what might Lundinmill Toll Bar and House have looked like? I've tried to imagine it and present below an impression of how it might have looked.  Maps show that it stood right up against the road on the opposite side of the junction from the old inn and facing the edge of Fir Park. Like many toll houses, this one would have have several windows and a polygonal front (typically a half hexagon) enabling the toll collector to see traffic approaching from different directions. The porch entrance offered the toll keeper some protection from the weather.

In the above sketch, the toll house stands on the site of the present Post Office (see small image).  There were no other buildings to the right of this for quite a distance.  Behind and to the west was ground belonging to Sunnybraes Farm.  On the opposite side of the main road was Fir Park at the bend and 'Sandiland's Field' to the west of that. To the left out of shot would have been the old inn and the houses and businesses of Emsdorf to the east. The bar or gate would have spanned the main road in front of the house. Of course, the site of the old toll would be transformed by the end of the century, as feuing took place and 'Gilmour Place' sprang up.

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