Coins, Tokens and Historical Medals

Tickets and Passes, A unique and comprehensive collection of ephemera relating to Shoreham Bridge:

Shoreham, Old Shoreham Toll Bridge, uniface copper, crest of the Earl of Surrey, 40mm, 15.16g (KR 880a; W 1165); uniface copper, similar, slit at top for suspension, 33mm, 11.39g (KR 880c, this piece; W 1166); uniface brass, similar, 33mm, 11.18g (KR 880d, this piece); uniface white metal, similar, perhaps a die trial, 33mm, 12.23g (KR 880e, this piece); together with paper tickets for Adur Footbridge (Penny), Norfolk Bridge (Sixpence and Penny), Old Shoreham Bridge (Southern Railway Co, Penny; Southern Railway Co, 3-month season tickets for Pedal Bicycle, 1951 and Motor Bicycle, 1951; British Railways Tenpence (2, different), Sixpence, Fourpence, Threepence and Penny; British Railways Board, Sixpence, Threepence and Penny), an original list of names to life annuity subscribers to Shoreham Bridge, with notes of dividends paid up to 1842; the original Life Annuity for £100, 1st Class, No.11, dated 15 November 1782, purchased by William Green of Findon, in the name of his son John Cheal Green (then aged six), and a 3-page ALS from B. Morris from Shimpling, near Diss, Norfolk, 20 January 1830, to the then Revd. J. Green, one of the few surviving holders of original annuities at that time, enquiring about a proposed new bridge; numerous picture postcards, press cuttings and other ephemera [Lot]. Very fine and better; an exceptional museum-quality group £300-£500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Sussex Tokens, Tickets and Medals from the Collection formed by the late Ron Kerridge.

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Collection

Provenance: First four D. Young Collection [KR 880a bt A. Judd October 2002; KR 880c R.G. Stewart Collection, W.J. Noble Collection, Part II, Noble Numismatics Pty Auction 61B (Melbourne), 3-4 August 1999, lot 1069, KR 880c from S.H. Monks June 2008, KR 880d from S.H. Monks March 2007].

At a meeting chaired by the Earl of Surrey on 30 May 1780, it was agreed that a bridge should be built over the River Adur, opposite Old Shoreham Church, to replace the dangerous ferry crossing. A sum of £5,000 was raised by issuing 50 share units, each of £100, and imposing a toll on all foot passengers, animals and vehicles using the bridge. The bridge was authorised by Act of Parliament; construction began in June 1781 and when it opened on 2 March 1782 it was the longest bridge in the county. The original tolls were considered exhorbitant, at up to three shillings for a coach and four, a shilling for a horse and cart, with a halfpenny extra per foot passenger. Vested in private trusteeship for the first 80 years, the bridge was taken over by the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway in 1861. The bridge, rebuilt in 1917, carried the main coastal trunk road, the A27, until May 1970 when a replacement was constructed a quarter of a mile north. Tolls continued to be levied until the closure of the original bridge on 7 December 1970; now it is only used by cyclists and pedestrians and is Grade II-listed.

Revd. John Cheal Green, Vicar of Rustington and Littlehampton, was appointed Harbour Commissioner of Shoreham Harbour on 5 June 1804