Mole’s SOS – Coal Post #188 Traditional Cache
argiterian: This has gone missing for the last time
Mole’s SOS – Coal Post #188
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Another in Mole's Series of Series
I have put together a series of caches and the theme of these are ‘Series’ – each cache is, in their own right, part of a group of caches around the country following a theme linked to a landmark or object, such as churches, ponds and in this case Coal Posts. Each ‘series’ was devised by an individual cacher who either retained the series and developed it on their own such as the ponds, dewponds and lakes series by martletsman or encouraged other cachers to add to the series with the request to advise the originator of a new addition in order to keep tabs of the increasing number and save duplication – such as the church micro series, which is managed by sadexploration. There are some series of caches which do not get referred to by a rolling number allocated by the originator (like church micro #176), instead these others are referred to by their location – such as the motorway mayhem series where the motorway and the junction distinguish it from any other. My little series will draw on many of these – each being part of the series referred to but part of this series – Mole’s SOS (Series Of Series) This cache recognises one of approximately 200 surviving Coal Tax Posts. These posts are to be found in a ring around London at about fifteen miles from the City of London. They were erected under the London Coal and Wine Duties Continuance Act, 1861. Coal sold in the City of London had been taxed since mediaeval times and, as it was all brought in by sea to one or two riverside wharfs, the collection of the duty had been relatively easy. A similar duty was collected on all wine landed in London. By the nineteenth century, however, there was increasing trade by canal and rail, and various acts of parliament extended the catchment area to a radius of about twenty miles from London. The City is a small (one square mile) but influential part of London and in 1851 an Act was passed specifying the points, far beyond its boundaries, where the collections could be made. Marker posts, inscribed with this legal authority, were erected. Following enlargement of the Metropolitan Police District in 1861 a further Act was passed and new marker posts were set to show the boundary inside which the duty was payable. Most of these later posts survive. The erection of these posts was very much a last ditch attempt to retain the tax in the face of growing opposition. The tax had been running for at least two hundred years but within twenty years of the posts going up it was abolished. The Industrial Revolution was in full swing, London was expanding rapidly. The outer suburbs were becoming towns and their residents beginning to resent paying a tax which had very little direct benefit for them. One extreme case is Caterham which lay (and still lies) outside the Metropolitan Police District (MPD) but if coals were to be brought there by rail they had to pass through the MPD and presumably were subject to the tax. The powers to extract these taxes were abolished in 1889. Most posts were made of cast iron and stood at four or five feet tall, but the railway posts were large and impressive obelisks of granite fourteen feet in height. All bore the City coat of arms. Most of those surviving are painted white, with the arms picked out in red, but the stone ones are often of a sombre black, still bearing the stains accumulated on the smoky trackside. There are five different forms of Coal Tax boundary markers in all. Most of the posts are Grade II listed buildings. This series was started back in 2003 with coal post #24 (GCGFAC) - 2 further caches were hidden at that time but the series stopped - A further was added in 2005 but a resurgence came about in March 2009 when Merstham Mafia started the series up again - This cache is the 40th of the sereis - The cache is a small container located close to the Coal Tax Post number 188 which is found along the narrow lane of Single Street on Cudham Parking can be found at N51° 19.272 E000° 03.506 but there is only enough room for one car and only for a short stay – this will be a cache and dash - As the cache is adjacent to a busy road, extra stealth is required, and care as thre is no pavement. Please locate and relocate the cache carefully. Please also note if you are doing the nearby DBO series, to pick this one up you will have to divert via the roads - you can not access this one from the footpath between DBO #'s 4 and 5
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
onfr bs GC fgvpxbsyntr
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