Milestones and Mileposts

Milestones and mileposts are stones or short pillars set up at the roadside indicating the distance in miles from that point to a particular place or places.  The first milestones in England were erected by the Romans, who constructed good metalled roads to enable them to move soldiers and supplies quickly across the country.  They measured out distances to assist with timing and efficiency and marked every 1,000 double paces with a large cylindrical stone. 117 of these stones still survive in the UK, although most of them are no longer in their original locations. The Latin word for thousand is ‘mille’ and the Roman mile was 1618 yards long. In England the statute mile of 1,760 yards was defined by Act of Parliament in 1593 but various other miles continued in use in many parts of Britain until the 19^th century. 

In 1697 an Act of Parliament enabled Justices of the Peace to order the erection of inscribed waymarkers known as guide stoops, guideposts or direction stones at the intersection of paths in remote moorland areas.  These stone guide stoops, which often resembled farm gateposts, pointed the way to the nearest market town.

From the late 17th century to the 1840s Turnpike Trusts were set up by Acts of Parliament to improve the state of Britain’s roads, which often became impassable in the winter months. Local groups of wealthy people paid for improved roads to be built and then charged people tolls for using them. The turnpike milestones of the 18th and early 19th centuries used statute miles. At first these milestones were made of stone or were engraved in walls of buildings but the later ones were made of cast iron. After 1767 milestones were compulsory on all turnpike roads to inform travellers, to help coaches keep to schedules and for the calculation of charges for the changes of horses at coaching inns.

Most milestones and mileposts were removed or defaced at the beginning of the Second World War to confuse the Germans in the event of an invasion and not all were replaced afterwards.  Some have been demolished more recently during road widening schemes and others have been damaged by vehicles colliding with them or by hedge cutting equipment.  However several have survived in Somerset.

Milestone, Cothelstone Hill

Cast iron milepost, Orchard Portman

Honiton 16 miles, Taunton 2 miles

Cast iron sign mounted on a wall in Curry Rivel

Bishops Lydeard

(it's a shame they couldn't spell Bridgwater!)

Bath Turnpike Trust milepost, Widcombe, Bath

Simple milestone, Church Street (B3162), Winsham

A396 at Wheddon Cross

A39 at Coxley near Wells

2 miles to Wells, 4 miles to Glastonbury and 18 miles to Bridgwater

Cast iron milepost on Church Street (A366), 

Norton St Philip

6 miles to Trowbridge, 16 to Devizes, 17 to Wells and 105 to London

Direction stone, West Chinnock

This direction stone is located at the junction of Smoky Hole Lane and Smith's Hill and is made of Ham stone.  It is thought to date from 1745.  On the south face an inscribed cuffed hand points east to EAST/NNICK (East Chinnock) and another hand points west to CREWKE/RNE ROAD.  On the east face a hand points north to YEOVIL/ROAD. The distances are not given.

Outside Shoreditch Farm

Replica milestone, Kingston Road, Kingston St Mary

It has the date 2007 on it.

Milestone by the side of Honiton Road in Blagdon Hill

Milestone in Brook Street, Bampton, Devon

It is very precise as to how far away Minehead is: 22 miles, 5 P (poles or perches - is is definitely a P but should it be F for furlong?) and 34 R (rods)

Bristol Turnpike Trust's 1823 cast iron milepost and an earlier milestone on the A370 at Chelvey Batch

Somerset County Council’s 1911 milepost in Clevedon Road, Tickenham

Bristol Turnpike Trust's 1837 cast iron milepost in Clevedon Road, Nailsea

Bristol Turnpike Trust Milepost on the A38 at Langford

1733 guidestone at the junction of Clapton Lane and Clevedon Road, Portishead

Modern milestone in Halberton, Devon: 11 miles to Wellington

Milestone in High Street, Ilchester 

Miles to London 127,  Bristol 35, Bath (illegible) 33, Wells 18, Taunton 24, Yeovil 5

Postboxes

Before 1840 most items of post had to be paid for by the recipient and the charges depended on how far they were being sent and how many pieces of paper they contained.  Postage costs were too high for most people to afford.  In 1837 social reformer Rowland Hill proposed reforms to the postal system, which included the introduction of a single postage rate of one penny for all standard weight (up to half an ounce) letters, which would be paid by the sender. The world’s first adhesive postage stamp, the Penny Black, was introduced in 1840. 

However people wishing to send letters had to take them to the nearest letter receiving office, which could be miles away.  A growth in use of the postal service after 1840 led to the need for many more convenient locations where stamped letters could be deposited. The novelist Anthony Trollope, who worked for the General Post Office, saw roadside post boxes in France.   He trialled the use of locked cast-iron pillar boxes with regular collection times on Jersey in 1852 and they were introduced to mainland Britain in 1853.

Some of the early post boxes were hexagonal in shape but a wide variety of designs were used.  Boxes inserted into walls were introduced in 1857.  In 1859 an improved cylindrical shape pillar box, with its posting aperture located beneath a cap to protect it from rainwater, was introduced for standard use.  By 1859 the colour for post boxes was standardised as dark green but this colour made them difficult for people to find them.  The standard colour was changed to bright red in 1874, although it was another decade before all the post boxes were repainted red.

Lamp post boxes were introduced in 1896.  These were designed to be attached to lampposts but they were also attached to telegraph poles, set on their own posts or set into walls.  

Around 800 different designs for post boxes have been used so far and new designs are still being produced. 

Post boxes usually have the insignia of the monarch reigning at the time of placement.  60% of UK post boxes currently in use have EIIR for Queen Elizabeth II or a Scottish crown on them, 15% have the insignia of King George V and the remainder in descending order are from the reigns of George VI, Victoria, Edward VII and Edward VIII.  There are only 171 from the very short reign of Edward VIII in 1936 but one of these is located on the junction of Kenn Road with St Michael’s Avenue in Clevedon.

 

Rare Edward VIII pillar box in Clevedon

Replica Victorian Penfold pillar box on Weston-super-Mare Seafront

George VI wall box, High Street, Stogumber

 

Queen Victoria wall box on the western outskirts of North Petherton

 

Gold pillar box, Trull, Taunton

To celebrate British competitors' gold medal winning performances at the London Olympics and Paralympics in 2012 Royal Mail painted a post box in each of the gold medal winners' home towns.  The only gold post box in Somerset is located outside Trull Post Office on Church Road, Trull.  It commemorates the gold medal won by paralympian Deborah Criddle in the Team Dressage event.  She also won silver medals in the Individual and Freestyle events, all with the horse LJT Akilles. 
Royal Mail painted 110 post boxes gold across the UK and a list of their locations can be found on this website:   http://www.goldpostboxes.com/ In November 2012 Royal Mail announced that the gold post boxes would remain gold permanently.

Queen Victoria Wallbox, Howleigh near Blagdon Hill

Queen Victoria Wallbox, Ash Priors

Queen Victoria Pillar Box, New Street, Wells

 

Edward VII wallbox  at Churchstanton

 

George V pillar box, St Augustine's Street, Taunton

Of course, the other purpose of pillar boxes is to provide something for dogs to urinate up, which is clearly what had happened here shortly before my visit!

 

Unusual George V wall box in Brompton Ralph

 

George V wall box at the Old Post Office, Stawell

 

In May 2019 the Royal Mail painted a post box royal blue close to each of the venues used to host matches for the ICC Cricket World Cup.  Taunton's County Ground was used for 3 matches and Taunton's blue post box was in North Street.



 

ICC Cricket World Cup blue postbox, North Street, Taunton

 

Front of the blue postbox in North Street, Taunton