A FORTNIGHT ago, Barry Thompson of Stockton was asking how come all but one of the seven mileposts on the A167 survive from Great Smeaton south into Northallerton whereas the eight north into Darlington have all disappeared.
READ FIRST: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE MILESTONES OF THE A167 AND THE GHOST OF BLACK MAN'S CORNER?
However, Hilary Jones, vice-chairman of the Milestone Society, writes to direct us into the hedge at Entercommon, a mile to the north of Smeaton, where the “Northallerton 8 Darlington 8” lives on.
“It regularly disappears from view as it is within the hedge line but that has also protected it from verge cutting damage,” says Hilary.
This, as you can imagine, is terrifically exciting news.
Milestones were originally installed in the 1740s when groups of private businessmen – known as turnpike trusts – were allowed to take over the roads and invest in repairs in return for charging road users. In the 1880s when county councils were created and given the highways responsibilities, they replaced the stones with metal mileposts, often as a way of advertising the existence of the council.
We mentioned how the A167 was unusual because as well as having the mileposts running south to north, a short stretch of it at Entercommon was part of the east-west B1264 road from Catterick Bridge to Yarm which also had mileposts running along it.
“To the north of the Entercommon junction there was a milepost that said Yarm 8 Catterick Bridge 9,” says Hilary. “This still exists but not in the original location. It has been repurposed (and altered) and is now to be found in a garden hedge opposite Yarm railway station. The original figure 8 has been removed but the CB9 can still be seen on the rear.
“How it got there I don’t know but I believe it is the only one of the Catterick Bridge & Durham Trust mileposts to have survived.”
Rodney Wildsmith from Great Ayton gets in touch. “I liked the piece on the mileposts on the A167, but I think the one, just as you come into Thirsk, on the old A19, is very interesting. What is the significance of the two castings on it?”
This is indeed a milepost masterpiece.
It is in Ingramgate, and on the side pointing to Easingwold 12 miles away is the casting of what the Listed Buildings Schedule (all mileposts are Grade II listed) describes as a cow with a calf beneath it. To some eyes, perhaps, it looks like an ewe with a lamb.
On the Thirsk side, there’s a bird with outstretched wings and the casting of a man with a walking staff who is holding a mug – is it of tea, or is it a foaming flagon of ale?
Many mileposts exist on the road to Easingwold, but they are all plain. Only this one, which was made in the local foundry at Norby, is decorated in this way. Can you tell us what the decorations represent?
Now, indulge us, dear reader. Memories is just back from a week’s tour of western Scotland where even the single track roads are lined with mileposts. Dashing at at least 20mph from passing place to passing place along the A849 on the Isle of Mull to catch the ferry across to Iona, we were struck by the string of rugby-ball shaped mileposts marking our progress.
So we stopped and took a photo of one. Clearing away the grass, we saw that it was made by the Smith Patterson Foundry of Blaydon on Tyneside. The foundry, on the banks of the Tyne, was one of Blaydon’s biggest employers and made two types of milepost – one shield shaped, the other like a rugby ball – for Northumberland County Council, and it also won the contract in 1897 to mark the route to the Iona ferry on one of Scotland’s most remote roads.
Any other mileposts you’d like to draw our attention to?
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