Wadesmill

Wadesmill is a hamlet in Hertfordshire, England, located on the north side of the River Rib with an estimated population of 264. At the 2011 Census the population of the hamlet was included in the civil parish of Thundridge. Running through the center of Wadesmill is the road formerly known as the A10 - the main London to King's Lynn (via Cambridge) road - but now that the A10 by-pass has been built, Wadesmill and surrounding villages have returned to the quiet of former times. The route that was formerly the A10 is an ancient one with portions of it following the line of the Roman Road Ermine Street. Ermine street also figures as the former main street in Wadesmill's adjacent village Thundridge.HistoryHistorically Wadesmill is particularly notable for two features - it is the location of the first turnpike in England (and therefore the world), and the presence of the Clarkson Memorial halfway up nearby High Cross hill, a memorial to Thomas Clarkson's rest point in his travels at which he decided to devote much of the rest of his life to ending the slave trade.The first effective turnpike in England was created at Wadesmill by Act of Parliament ("The Turnpike Act") in 1663 as a result of serious deterioration of the "Old North Road" due to travel by laden barley wagons supplying the brewing trade in the nearby maltings town of Ware. As with most government-imposed taxations however, routes to circumvent the turnpike were quickly established, resulting in one instance in the increased use of what became known as "The Great North Road" - the A1.