It’s at the point where Hampstead Lane becomes Spaniard’s Road that you will find the toll house that once marked the boundary of the Bishop of London’s estate.
The 18th century painted brick building was restored in 1967, and Grade II listed in the 1970s, and is deemed to be in fair to good condition.
But it sits on English Heritage’s at risk register because it has long stood empty with little prospect of being used or open to the public.
The single storey building has a chimney stack and a window on each of the three sides facing the road, and was once occupied by a keeper 24 hours a day.
The Heath and Hampstead Society has long campaigned to save and restore the building where tolls were collected from those passing through the western entrance to the Bishop’s estates.
Travellers would often take the opportunity to stop for refreshments at the adjacent pub – The Spaniard’s Inn which dates back to 1585 and is reportedly named after the Spanish Ambassador to King James I, who was a regular.
Another story has it that there were two former Spanish landlords, Francesco and Juan Porero, who supposedly duelled over a woman.
Two hundred years ago, toll gates were an unpopular but familiar site collecting fees from road users to fund the maintenance and repair of a road.
So called Turnpike Trusts had to be set up by Acts of Parliament and at their peak in the 1830s there were around 8,000 toll gates in the UK.
But they fell out of use in the 1880s when local government was tasked with maintaining roads and many were demolished.
In the 1920s, The Spaniard’s toll gate was threatened with demolition as part of a scheme to widen the road, and over the years motorists have moaned that it creates traffic jams.
But it managed to hang on with support from local conservation groups.
Just a few hundred toll gates survive today as homes, shops and empty historic buildings.
London’s last working toll gate is on College Road, near Sydenham Hill, part of the Dulwich Estate and charges £1.20 for motor vehicles to pass through.
