Cache-Control: public, max-age=1024000 Bath Chairmen

From The Improved Bath Guide 1825

Chairmen

The present number of licensed chairs is upwards of 200.

Chairmen demanding more for their fare than they are entitled to, refusing to carry any fare when called on, or using any abusive or insulting language, shall forfeit twenty shillings, or be suspended from using their chair for any time not exceeding forty days.

Chairmen’s fares in shillings and pence, as settled by the magistrates:

For carrying one person any distance not exceeding five hundred yards06
Beyond 500 and not exceeding 1173 yards10
Beyond 1173 yards and not exceeding 1 mile16
Beyond 1 mile, and not exceeding 1 mile and 586 yards20
Not exceeding 1 mile and 1173 yards26
Not exceeding 2 miles30
And for every 586 yards beyond06

All fares to be charged double after twelve o’clock at night. And instead of five hundred yards, three hundred only is a sixpenny fare, on hiily or ascending ground, whether upward or downward. But where the fare begins on plain ground and ends on an ascent, or begins on a descent and ends on plain ground, tbe chairmen must carry the full space of five hundred yards.

The mayor and two justices direct the measurement of any distance in dispute ; the expense of which to be paid by the chairmen if the distance be less than they charge, and if more by the person they carry.

Hilly/Ascending Ground

The ground that is deemed billy or ascending is as follows:

From tbe union of the four roads, at tbe north end of Belmont, ascending northward towards Lansdown Place, Camden Place, and parts adjacent.
From the south side of Burlington House northward ; from the road at the north-east coiner of St. James’s Square northward; and from the London road to Gaj’s Place, &c. northward.
From the Assembly Booms and parts adjacent up to and along Russel Street, lo and into Burlington Street, Arc. northward.
From the Angel Inn, near the Old Bridge, up or along tbe public roads there, southward.
From the mill, near Widcombe turnpike-gate, towards Lyncombe and paits adjacent, southward.
From the lower gate going to Prior Park, up to Widcombe Hill, eastward.
From tbe corn mill, at tbe bottom of the hill leading to Prior Park, towards Prior Park bouse, and parts adjacent.

Charges for Waiting

A person may detain the Chairmen in every fare without any extra charge, as follows:

In a sixpenny fare10 mins
In a twelvepenny fare15 mins
In an eighteenpenny fare20 mins
In a two-shilling fare25 mins
In a half-a-crown fare30 mins
In a three-shilling fare35 mins

Chairmen to be paid sixpence for each extra quarter of an hour’s waiting.

And in every fare or quantity of ground constituting an additional fare, any further time not exceeding in each additional sixpenny fare as above, five minutes.