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Coal Tax Post


WJM

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I came across this beauty today. On the bank of the Slough Arm, beside the point where the arm crosses the River Coln. The Coal Taxes were last collected in 1890 but the Slough Arm was opened in 1882. I am wondering, the Coln was regarded historically as a navigation. So it would have had a Coal Tax Post of it’s own. Would this have been a ‘new’ post for the canal? Or an old Coln post lifted up?

61407205-2F58-4A25-8821-55EE0B1B7F63.jpeg

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Okay - two things

 

As far as I know the Coln has never been navigable - the Slough Branch didn't replace it but was a response to the increasing industrialisation of the area. I think only the New Junction Canal (connecting the Sheffield and South Yorkshire to the Aire and Calder) was later in the commercial era.

 

Two - I've never heard of the Coal Tax other than as a tax on goods carried by sea, please tell us more!

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I don't know if this is relevant to the discussion -

Watford’s wharves

Of the two nearest wharves to Watford, one Lady Capel's Wharf off the Hemsptead Road had been built because Watford was the closest point to London where coal could be unloaded from the canal without paying a 1/1d per Ton toll. This toll had originally been imposed by the Corporation of London on all coal landed from boats in the port of London to pay for the rebuilding of St. Paul's Cathedral after the great fire of 1666. The coal unloaded at Lady Capel's Wharf continued its journey by cart and wagon but the commercial use of Lady Capel's Wharf ended in 1847 when the original lease granted by the Earl of Clarendon expired.

From this site https://www.westwatfordhistorygroup.org/thecanalatwatford.htm

We have taken an interest in this and have "Lady Capel's Wharf" on the side of our boat...

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  • 3 years later...

If I may ask a follow up question regarding Lady Capels Wharf, I knew about the coal Tax, I believe Lady Capel was the wife of the Earl of Essex (Cassiobury was next door) and the Grove was owned by The Earl of Clarendon. So does anyone know what the Grove Wharf Cottages and Grove Wharf were and for?

they all seem to be the actual same place 

thanks for reading 

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Just stumbled on this. If you took a small boat down the R Coln before the M25 was built, in addition to a number small boat houses you would also have come across a Coal Tax Post on a small island. This was discovered during IWA research for "Londons North West Passage", back in the 1970's. 
I do not know about ancient traffic but sand did move down a very small section of the Coln between pits and the GU and some details were given in WW about this time.

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I’m beginning to think that Grove Wharf and Lady Capels Wharf had two different functions.

there now stands a Grove Wharf House with Lady Capels right next door.

these are both to the north of the footpath from the road to the canal

on the south of the footpath there are some cottages but not as old as 1940’s they are part of what is Affinity Water. Could that be the site of Grove wharf originally? 

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Well I never

 

Thank you, I will hang on to that link I have searched but didn’t really know how to get Old maps. Cassiobury is interesting too.

 

That’s just what I wanted, the row of cottages. 

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The Colne was definitely used for navigation between Farlows lake and the group of gravel pits at the end of Trout road in West Drayton until the late 70's, and i suspect the same would apply to the chain of pits between Harefield and Savay lake. 

 It seems that traffic was mostly local, between weirs but there may have been flash locks long ago?

 

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The image of the coal tax post and the mention of the Act 14th & 15th Victoria c 146, 1851, relates to the third amendment of the local act that levied a charge on coal brought into London via coastal waters and by inland navigation. The initial act of this form was William 4th cap c76 and was altered and amended by 1 & 2 Victoria cap 101 and 8 & 9 Victoria 101 and 14 & 15th Victoria 146.

 

The act was to have a levy charged on coal brought into London & Westminster which assisted the financing of public works. Amendments included the setting of the radius of  the 20 mile boundary for the tax as the Post Office in London, as the railway network became established. The 1851 made a provision for certain drawbacks. The boundary markers marked the limits of the tax jurisdiction and had as much relevance to the growing number of railway lines as the earlier navigatations that came to be  built or existed prior to the tax of William 4th.   

Edited by Heartland
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On 30/05/2022 at 22:44, Duchess said:

Do you have any pictures or the date of the article? 

I am talking over 35 years ago & all my back No's are in store.
The coal boundary post, was on the coal boundary post web site, but I can't find it. From memory it was a C.I road post & not a water one. But as I say it was a long time back and I didn't have a camera with me.

 

Just found the site https://www.geograph.org.uk/stuff/list.php?label=Colnbrook+Bridge&gridref=TQ0277

 

But still no sign of my post?

 

Edited by oboat
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In the 1980's, a coal boundary post was visible on the northern side of the old Great Eastern Railway line beween Chadwell Heath and Romford stations in Essex. I don't know if it is still there. It must have been between 11 and 12 miles from Liverpool Street Station, so around 12 and 13 miles from what was the main Post Office at Mount Pleasant, near St. Pauls.  Perhaps this was not the post office referred to in the legislation.

Edited by Ronaldo47
typo
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