in the 17th century the royal navy considered the road from petersfield to portsmouth impassable for heavy goods in winter. improvements were made in the 18th century to roads and coaches along with the coming of the turnpike. turnpiking between petersfield and portsmouth began in 1710 and between kingston and petersfield via liphook in 1749. the old toll house by radford bridge in liphook dates from the 18th century. highwaymen were a problem in the 18th century as notices in the royal anchor show. by 1784 london-portsmouth coaches carried mail through liphook. turnpiking reduced the journey from london-portsmouth from two days in the 1660s to 10 hours in 1819. cary's new itinerary of 1819 records seven coaches on weekdays left london for portsmouth via liphook and three during the night.