Coal Post #14 (Reloaded) Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size:  (small)
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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 track side. There are
five different forms of Coal Tax boundary markers in all. Most of
the posts are Grade II listed buildings.
This Coal Post N51 43.260 E000 02.188 is very
close to the Galleyhill Green series. Parking can be found close by
in Bumbles Green Road. To conform to Geocaching proximity rules we
were unable to place the actual cache closer to the Coal Post. This
cache is a short walk down the hill from the Coal Post itself but
this fine specimen is well worth a visit.
The cache container itself is a small lock n lock box approx 3"
square. Due its size only small TB's or Geocoins will fit.
The terrain can be muddy in winter. The cache contains a few swaps
but no pencil!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Onfr bs gerr.