Toll point

In the United Kingdom a toll point or toll island is a place on a canal where a fee was collected as boats carrying cargo passed. These were sited at strategic points such as the stop lock at the transition from one canal company to another where water transfer was a concern, or at busy locks where water usage and pumping costs were an issue.

Generally this was at a lock or an artificially constricted part of the canal so that the boat had to pass within inches of the toll point unable to evade the toll. On canals where the fee was based on cargo weight it also put the boat in a convenient place to read the gauging mark height from the water line. On busy canals which were built with a towpath on either side such as the Birmingham Canal Navigations BCN New Main Line the toll house may have been built on an island between two constricted channels so that one toll point could collect from boats travelling in each direction. The BCN retains several of these islands, for example at Winson Green Junction.

The maximum tolls were set by the river navigation and canal Acts. Some early Acts allowed fees to be set by local commissioners or Quarter Sessions, but from 1720 fees could only be reassessed by Parliament.

Fees were set in pence per mile, or part. Sometimes empty boats were exempt, or free if returning loaded, or if water was running over the weirs. Fees depended on the type of cargo. Coal, stone and lime were the cheapest, then iron ore, then finished goods, with perishables and packets being the most expensive. Tolls might be refunded for long distance trips to encourage expansion of trade - "drawbacks" - particularly applied to the coal trade.

Some exceptions were made to placate local land owners. The delivery of straw, manure or road building materials, as well as coal for the poor (5,000 tons per year on the Derby Canal), or contribution to county rates may have freed the carrier of toll fees.

In the 1790s toll fees were greatly reduced by Parliament to encourage canal use. In practice, competition kept tolls below the maximum, particularly after the arrival of the railways.

Special tolls existed for use of boat lifts, inclined planes and tunnels, but companies were not allowed to charge different tolls for special customers or over different parts of the line until 1845 (the Canal Tolls Act).

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Wikipedia