Description:Watercolour painting of Uttoxeter from the Tollhouse on Wood Lane by AnnTurner close to the junction with Highwood Lane.
In the centre of the picture is the original Thomas Alleyne's school. In front of St Mary’s church is the double eaved warehouse which was possibly originally a silk mill and later a garage. This building has only recently been demolished. The tollhouse has a kiosk window and a board on its wall showing the tolls. The toll gate is open leading towards the bridge over the Picknall brook and into Schoolhouse Lane.
A few years after this picture was painted the scene changed dramatically when the railway came to town. The tollhouse was eventually demolished sometime in the 1930s.
This watercolour is part of a body of work by Ann Turner dating from the 1840s/50s, depicting rural views, rustic scenes, castles, abbeys and bridges, predominantly in the Cheshire and North Wales areas. Very little is known of Ann Turner, but as well as having the means to travel and paint, it appears that she had connections with highly regarded local Chester artist George Pickering (c.1794-1857). Pickering was a drawing master at Chester and later at Birkenhead; Ann Turner was likely a pupil.