Former toll house with links to historical riots sells at auction

A former toll house with links to a series of historic riots in Wales during the 1800s has found itself back in the money, after it sold at auction for £76,000.

The 19th Century Gate House in Llannon, near Llanelli in Carmarthenshire, was the former money collecting building for the tolls, prompting the Rebecca Riots.

They were protests against conditions in rural areas of Wales between 1839 and 1843, led by men with blackened faces disguised as women.

It became one of the most tumultuous periods in Welsh history.

The property went under the hammer with Paul Fosh Auctions with a guide price of £69,000, attracting interest from five bidders.

Along with many others in the country, the toll house was constructed to collect money for the upkeep of local roads, and became the target of the Rebecca protest movement.

It was built by the Three Commotts Turnpike Trust, a prominent toll road operator in Carmarthenshire.

And properties like this one were targeted due to severe agricultural depression, poor harvests and poverty.

Hard-pressed farmers and labourers would darken their faces and dress in traditional women's clothes of the time to attack various toll gates in protest against "unreasonable" charges.

They went by the name of Merched Beca, which translates from Welsh as Rebecca's Daughters.

The riots were mainly confined to the old counties of Pembrokeshire, Cardiganshire and Carmarthenshire, with only one incident in north Wales.

The riots ceased prior to 1844 due to several factors, including increased troop levels, a desire by the protestors to avoid violence, and the appearance of criminal groups using the guise of the biblical character Rebecca for their own purposes.

In 1844 an Act of Parliament to consolidate and amend the laws relating to turnpike trusts in Wales was passed.