The boundary marks today: The marks on walks

Many of the surviving marks are in open country and in some areas they are quite close together (for example on Banstead Heath) so it is easy to devise pleasant walks which take in a number of posts. The OS Explorer maps which cover the coal duty boundary are listed on the maps page.

There is a description of a walk on Banstead Heath on this site. The Epsom and Ewell History Explorer site's Coal Tax Posts describes walks on Ashstead Common and Epsom Downs.

A number of long-distance footpaths pass the marks, notably the Thames Path between Staines and West Molesey. The North Downs Way passes two posts (151 and 152) near Colley Hill. The London Loop runs fairly close to the boundary for a lot of its route but frustratingly only passes eight marks, some of which are mentioned in the official guide to the walk.

Many books describing country walks in the London area mention boundary marks that their routes pass. Two early examples are:

Tasker's Country rambles by field path and road in and around Ilford (1910), and
White's Country walks. Third series (1937).

Nowadays there are many descriptions of walks online which mention marks that they pass.

Page created by Martin Nail: Contact me. Last revised 22nd August 2013

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