A timber bridge over the River Ouse in the town was opened in c. 1793 to replace a ferry crossing that had existed since Medieval times.

In 1789, four years before the bridge was opened, records showed that the ferries carried 105,000 passengers, 75,000 horses, 30,000 farm animals, and 500 carriages.

[6] When it was built, the toll bridge provided a fixed link between the West and East Ridings of Yorkshire.

[19] In the 1920s, various motoring organisations objected to the charges on the Selby Toll Bridge, as it was on the main route through Doncaster to York, then Newcastle.

[23] An article in the Sunday Telegraph in March 1963, alleged that the bridge owners were "using an anachronistic law to make excessive profits at the expense of dissatisfied local inhabitants."

A high court libel case ensued with the judge finding the article to be wholly unjustified, and he fined the newspaper the sum of £500, (equivalent to £12,000 in 2023).

[23] Local businesses contributed to the buyout plan as they had suffered with the near-constant gridlock when traffic paid to pay the toll, and then the bridge would need to be swung aside to let a ship or boat through.

[29] The last person to pay the toll was the chair of the county council in a ceremonial traversing of the bridge on 19 September 1991.