44. Maintenance of the Roads

From early times roads were looked after by the parish. One man was appointed to act as waywarden. Every man was compelled to give six days' work every year, on the roads and the waywarden was responsible for seeing that this work was given, and directing the work.

At Sutton the office of waywarden was included with that of constable and overseer. The accounts dealing with the roads are mixed with the other accounts of his office. e.g. "Given the highway men - ale 2/-". Presumably this refers to ale given to men doing their six days work.

Under this system the roads were always in bad condition. There were deep ruts and in winter thick mud almost invariably made them almost impassable. There was no system of drainage, and floods were common. The waywarden was unskilled in the art of road making, and the men who had to give six days work without pay would probably be hard to direct and might work grudgingly.

In Sutton, as in most places, there were men who preferred to give money instead of working for six days. By 1767 this custom was common. In the account books there are regular - "The names of people who have compounded with the Surveyors".

In addition to the compounding of the duty a small highway rate was levied. The surveyors gave their accounts and a meeting was held to decide the best way of raising the money.

By the Highways Act of 1862 parishes could be grouped together under Districts under a Highway Board. This organisation for road maintenance with a larger unit than the parish should have lead to better efficiency and economy. However, the different parishes were jealous of each other. Each feared that it was paying highway rates to repair the roads of some other parish, or the its roads would be neglected.

Sutton was grouped under such a Highway District - The East Staincliffe Highway Board. Evidently the ratepayers of Sutton were dis-satisfied. On Jan 26th 1881 they passed the following resolution: - "That this township has had a fair trial of the East Staincliffe Highway Act, and as the ratepayers find it quite inoperative and very expensive, this meeting requests the waywarden to attend the next meeting of any subsequent meeting of the Highway Boards and support any resolution that may have for its object the dissolving of the aforesaid Highway Board".

The Board was dissolved some time later, and Keighley Rural District Council took charge. Now the County Council of the West Riding of Yorkshire control the main roads, while the other council still maintains the secondary roads.