Description:
The old Gunthorpe Toll Bridge (seen here) was demolished in 1925. The Lighthouse Cafe can be seen on the left.
The Gunthorpe Bridge Co. raised £7,500 in £10 shares, laid the foundation stone in 1873 and completed the largely iron structure in 1875. The tolls were horse and carriage 1/-, horse and wagon 6d, horse alone 3d, people and passengers 1d, motorcycles 3d, cars 1/- and lorries 2/6, when the 1925 the Gunthorpe Bridge Act empowered the council to buy the owners out, demolish the bridge and replace it with the present one. According to the sign this was the first toll bridge in the country to be replaced by a free one. Hard to believe, but perhaps previous councils had just built new free bridges and let the private ones decay. (Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunthorpe,_Nottinghamshire)