Western Toll House

THE DOMESTIC TOLL

During the period 1622–1808, duties had to be paid not only on imports, but also on commodities brought from the countryside into towns. This domestic toll applied in the whole of Sweden, including Finland. Its purpose was to concentrate trade to towns and generate income for the state treasury. Toll fences were erected around the towns. Their original legal minimum height of approx. 4.5 metres was later reduced to approx. 1.5 metres. All entry was via gates that were closed at night, and toll houses were constructed at the gates.

The domestic toll was charged on all edible or usable goods. It was originally set at 1/32 (i.e. 3%) of the value of the goods, and later determined according to weight or measurement. When a farmer arrived with a cartload of goods destined for sale in the market square or directly to a customer, these were weighed and measured by the toll inspector. Upon payment, the farmer was issued with a receipt, which he presented to a guard who opened the gate.

The toll had to be paid irrespective of whether articles were sold or not. The system was therefore very unpopular and toll inspectors had to be armed in order to carry out their duties. Smuggling was commonplace. The toll collection was outsourced to private actors for lengthy periods of time. The domestic toll was abolished in Finland in 1808.

The toll fence in Kristinestad encircled most of today’s wooden town. During the Russian occupation in the early 18^th century, the fence was destroyed, but it was rebuilt in 1726. The responsibility for building and maintaining the fence lay with the burghers. However, according to a report to the Swedish Customs office in 1803, this task had been neglected in Kristinestad: the fence had fallen into disrepair and disappeared.

THE TOLL HOUSES OF KRISTINESTAD

In addition to an office for clearance procedures, toll houses could also contain accommodation for the toll inspector and his family. The toll houses of Kristinestad are unique, having been preserved in relatively authentic state.

Today, only a few such buildings remain in Sweden and Finland, having often been moved and/or repurposed.

The first toll houses in Kristinestad were in place in the 1660s. The western one – this building – handled import by road from the villages west and north of town. It was originally placed 20 metres north of its present location. At the eastern one, in today’s Market Square, duties were paid on goods entering town on the waterfront side, by boat or across the ice. In addition, there was a temporary winter toll station at the so-called North Toll (Norrtullen).

How old are the toll houses? The toll houses of Kristinestad, particularly the western one, closely correspond to the standard template from 1759 issued by the Swedish public authority Kammarkollegiet. Identical toll houses were built in other towns in Sweden, but none of those remain today. In 2022, samples of the constructional timber were taken for dendrochronological analysis. The annual growth rings show that the timber was felled in 1760 and 1761, and we can establish that the Kristinestad toll houses came about in the early 1760s.

After 1808. Having lost their purpose, both the Western and the Eastern Toll House were moved to the northern edge of town in the early 19^th century. They then served as accommodation for the poor, and as an epidemic emergency hospital during the outbreaks of cholera (1899) and scarlet fever (1910). In 1967, the Western Toll House was moved back to roughly its former site. Its eastern counterpart can still be seen at the address Norrtullen / Pohjoistulli. The photo is from the 1930s.