THE WATERWAYS HERITAGE SPOTTER:MILE MARKERS

摘要

Our news story on Page 12 about the toll house at Brentford on the Grand Union Canal mentions that in the days of cargo-carrying, the working boats were charged tolls to use the canals based on a fixed rate per 'ton mile'. This rate was then multiplied by the number of tons they were carrying, and by the number of miles they carried their load, to calculate the toll charged. We mentioned in the news story the 'gauging rods' used to measure the weight of the cargo - but how did they measure the miles travelled?