Warrant Card | Gate Keeper's Orders, signed by Thomas Ripley, 1744

Warrant Card

Printed Gate-keepers Orders

 ("You are not to suffer any led horses to pass thro' the Gate you ar in charge of, except those of the Royal family [etc]..."), signed by Thomas Ripley, Keeper of His Majesty's Private Roads, contemporary calf gilt folder, inside lower cover gilt stamped ("The Kings | Private Roads | G II R | MDCCXLIV | No 1106"), 70 x 54mm, 1744

A RARE GATEKEEPER'S WARRANT IN CONTEMPORARY BINDING. Thomas Ripley (1683-1758) had been appointed Keeper of his Majesty's Private Roads, Gates and Bridges in 1737. The road in question is almost certainly King's Road, a principal thoroughfare of Chelsea and Fulham, which originally ran all the way to the royal palace at Kew. It was established by Charles II and remained a private road until 1830. It was such a useful thoroughfare that gatekeepers were required to prevent its use by unauthorised travellers, although those same gatekeepers were also notorious for the illegal sale of "passes". There were two other royal roads, although both will have required a much smaller number of gatekeepers: Richmond Road (linking Kew and Richmond), and Hampton Court Road (Hampton Wick to Hampton).