All goods moving from that bridge to the town had to pay tolls to the Borough of Ilchester, which increased the price of coal to the inhabitants.

The Ivelchester and Langport Navigation was conceived as a way of ensuring that boats could always reach the Ilchester town wharfs, and therefore duty would not be paid on goods using Pill Bridge Lane.

[1] Following a meeting with representatives from the Dorset and Somerset Canal, which was part of a grand scheme to link the Bristol Channel to the English Channel,[2] a number of local businessmen obtained an Act of Parliament on 22 June 1795, which made provision for improving the river between Ilchester and Bicknell Bridge, just to the south east of Langport, and then cutting through the town along the course of the Portlake Rhine, which was then a drain, and rejoining the River Parrett below Langport lock.

Normal canal tolls were charged for use of the canal, and there was a toll for trade passing under the rebuilt bridge,Body & Gallop 2006, p. 13 but some of the shareholders felt that boat users on the River Ivel should also be charged, since the water levels on the river had improved since the construction of the Parrett Navigation works.

Philip Broadmead obtained professional opinions on the legality of the proposed action, and produced a document outlining the expected returns on such a scheme.