History of the boundary and the marks: The early railways

Contrary to what is sometimes stated (eg by Firth) the area within which duties were levied was not altered by the Act of 1838: some of the regulatory provisions applied to the area within 25 miles of the General Post Office in St Martins le Grand but the area of collection of duties was unaffected. The Act also instituted the system of "drawbacks" whereby coal could be brought into London and taken out again free of duty if it was not unloaded from the ship in which it came.

However, the duties were in fact extended at this period owing to the construction of the first railways into London and the consequent steps taken by the City to maintain their revenue from the coal duties. The course adopted was that of ensuring that provisions were inserted into the Act authorizing a particular railway, requiring the payment of duties on coal brought nearer to London than a certain point specified in the Act, which point was to be marked by a boundary stone or post.

Provisions were included in eight railway Acts, resulting in six boundary marks being erected:

Railway Company	Act	Section of Act	Position of mark	Opened
London and Birmingham	London and Birmingham Railway Act 1833	230	At tunnel entrance Cashio township, Watford parish	1837
London and Southampton	London and South Western Railway Act 1834	213	Junction of Basingstoke Canal and Wey Navigation	1838
Great Western	Great Western Railway Act 1835	228	East side of Colne, Hillingdon parish	1838
South Eastern	South Eastern Railway Act 1836	173	Parish of Lympsfield, Surrey	Route altered before construction
Northern and Eastern Counties	Northern and Eastern Railway Act 1836	206	Hamlet of Hoddesdon, Broxbourne parish	1841
Eastern Counties	Eastern Counties Railway Act 1836	260	Boundary of Shenfield and Mountnessing parishes	1843
Thames Haven	Thames Haven Dock and Railway Act 1836	254	Road from Orset to Horndon on the Hill	Not actually constructed
London and Brighton	London and Brighton Railway Act 1837	258	Boundary Gatton and Merstham parishes	1841

These six boundary marks are presumably the three Type 4a and three Type 4b obelisks, described under Types of boundary mark: Type 4, which still exist today.

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Page created by Martin Nail: Contact me. Last revised 17th March 2012

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