This is an unusual card, and related to the sport of horse racing, for it shows the crowd at Kennington Gate, on Derby Day.
.The Kennington Toll Gate opened in 1853, at the junction of Kennington Park Road, Camberwell New Road, and Clapham Road, and was removed on November 18, 1865.
Now you may be wondering what a turnpike was, let alone a law. The first attempt to control the highways was the HIghways Act of 1555. This laid down that every Easter the local parish had to elect two honest people to survey and upkeep the highways in their area, and that every householder had to do four days labour on them as well. That lasted until 1562, when the householders` burden was increased to six days labour rather than four, and also allows for the digging of gravel etc to make and repair roads, without permission from the land owner.
The next big change was in 1663, and that brought in the idea of charging money to use the roads.This was technically the first Turnpike Act, but they skyrocketed from the year 1700, after which almost a hundred and fifty different rules and regulations were laid down.
Our picture was drawn in 1838, and I found the original, which is, oddly, a hand-coloured aquatint. It is often ascribed to John Harris, born in 1811, but he only copied and slightly amended another, earlier, version by James Pollard. Most surprisingly, it is actually one of a set of four, called "Scenes on the Road, or a Trip to Epsom and Back" - the images being Hyde Park Corner; The Lord Nelson Inn at Cheam; The Cock at Sutton; and our Kennington Gate. They were published in 1838 by Ackermann & Co.
This set was not issued by Ogdens, so we only have the rather scant description given to us by the original World Tobacco Issues Index, which is :
- TURNPIKES. Sm. Brown. Nd. (25) H44-39
This is identical in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, but the card code has been changed to H536-360