The condition of Spalding’s roads has been complained about throughout my lifetime. With perhaps the most common reoccurring issue being the collapse of Pinchbeck Road which seems to have spent most of the 21st Century being dug up and bodged as it appears to be beyond the realms of civil engineers to do a proper job of culverting old drains and restoring a sustainable road not prone to collapse. However, such complaints are not new and this excerpt from a letter of 1850 shows how the road conditions can really get on your tits:
“The next item which deserves attention is the cobble paving in every street in the town, Church Street excepted.[1] There is not another street in good repair. Persons riding on horseback or driving in vehicles are obliged to be on the ‘look out’ for ‘holes’ and hold their ‘tits’ [2]well up, to prevent a somerset; and more especially in the narrow part of Bridge Street.”[3]
By the 1890’s the South Holland area had about 160 miles of main road and two workman and a one superintendent to repair them by hand. There was much argument by the Highways Committee over whether to buy or hirer a steamroller, but plenty of offers to drive it! By 1897 we see regular use of a steam road roller to repair and renew local roads. Rolled granite was preferred and you see local councillors ridiculing the use of tarmac! Perhaps Spalding is no more forward looking on infrastructure than it ever was!
[1] The clergy of that era would ensure their street was in good order.
[2] The reference may be to ponies – the Fen Tit was a pony originating from the Wildmore Fen area between Boston and Skegness and by 1850 was becoming heavily domesticated. The word at this time was a common name in the Fens for a pony.
[3] Stamford Mercury 1850
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