The History
Coal imported into the City of London had been taxed since mediaeval times and, as it was originally all brought by sea to riverside wharfs, the collection of the duties was relatively easy. The City is a small (one square mile) but influential part of London. The Port of London, within which the duties were payable, stretched far beyond the boundaries of the City, all the way along the Thames from Yantlet Creek (downstream from Gravesend) to Staines.
By the 19th century, however, there was increasing trade by canal and rail, and various acts of parliament extended the catchment area to include these new modes of transport. In 1845 the boundary was set at a radius of 20 miles from the General Post Office, London, from Langley in the west to Gravesend in the east and from Ware in the north to Redhill in the south. In 1851 an Act permitted the erection of boundary markers to indicate where this boundary lay; and about 50 markers, inscribed with a reference to the Act, were erected.
In 1861 a further Act — the London Coal and Wine Duties Continuance Act 1861 — was passed, reducing the area to that of the Metropolitan Police District plus the City of London. This stretched from Colnbrook in the west to Crayford Ness, at the mouth of the River Darent, in the east, and from Wormley, Hertfordshire in the north to Banstead Heath, Surrey in the south. New marker posts (about 280) were erected to show the boundary within which the duty was payable.
The purpose of the posts was to give notice of where the boundary ran so that no-one could claim ignorance of liability to pay the duties. However, in general, duties were not actually collected on the boundary.
The Cache
The citation on this post starts with “A & BC” and ends with “CAP DE”. The camouflaged cache is hidden at the following coordinates:
N51 B(D+E).(A-D)(C+D)A
W000 (C-E)(B/E).(C-B)E(A/D)
You can park down River Park Avenue, a very short distance from the listed coordinates, or walk along the Thames path from either direction. The footpath is flat but goes over a steep footbridge if approaching from Staines and can get quite muddy at times. Log only, so bring your own pen!
Happy hunting!