THE MILESTONE SOCIETY

THE MILESTONE SOCIETY

REGISTERED CHARITY NO. 1105688





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Founded in May 2001, the Society aims to identify, record, research and interpret for the public benefit the milestones and other waymarkers of the British Isles.



Objectives:


  1. To publicise and promote public awareness of milestones and other way markers and the need for identification, recording, research and conservation for the general benefit and education of the community

  2. To enhance public awareness and enjoyment of milestones and other waymarkers by informing of their distinctive contribution to the local scene and historic landscape

  3. To represent the historical significance and national importance of milestones in appropriate forums

  4. To organise and co-ordinate relevant projects at both national and regional/local levels, thereby enhancing public access

  5. To protect, preserve and restore milestones and other waymarkers through the planning process

  6. To establish regional groups through which to delegate and devolve the Society's business


Safety Matters

The fact that milestones, because of their original purpose, are most often located at the sides of roads means that a serious study of milestones involving measurement, recording of inscriptions, photographing, etc., can be hazardous in view of the juxtaposition of the researchers, road traffic and other pedestrians. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that the greatest care is taken by persons actively involved in a study of milestones and other waymarkers, both in regard to their own safety and to those of others who might be in some way be influenced by the actions of researchers at the roadside or other location.
Note: The Milestone Society accepts no responsibility for accidents or claims arising from any activity associated with the aims and objectives of the Society.


Officers:

County Representatives:

In order to facilitate the collection of data on milestones and to raise local awareness on this aspect of our national heritage at the county level, a system of County Representatives has been set up by the Society. At present there are representatives for the following counties/areas (based mainly on the pre-1974 boundaries): Anglesey, Bedforshire, Berkshire, Breconshire, Buckinghamshire, Caernarvonshire, Cambridgeshire, Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, Cheshire, Cornwall, Cumberland & Westmorland, Denbighshire, Devon, Dorset, Durham, Essex, Flintshire, Glamorgan, Greater London (Essex), Hampshire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdon, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Merionethshire, Middlesex, Monmouthshire, Montgomeryshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Pembrokshire, Radnoshire, Shropshire, Somerset, Staffordshire, Surrey, Sussex, Warwickshire, Westmorland, Wiltshire, Worcestershire, Yorkshire. (List updated October 2009).

If you do not have contact details for your own County Representative, or wish to contact a Representative of a County other than your own and also lack information, an address can be obtained by e-mail from Robert Caldicott (e-mail: robcaldicott@fastmail.fm )

Volunteers are welcome for those counties which are not yet represented.


Meetings

The Society holds two meetings each year. From 2007, the meeting in the Autumn will include the AGM and the Spring meeting is currently targetted for the second Saturday in May. Members will receive separate notification of the AGM with an agenda, annual report and a financial summary. At each meeting a variety of lectures and displays are arranged and an opportunity is given for verbal reports from the County Coordinators or any member wishing to contribute information.


SOCIETY PUBLICATIONS

(a) Newsletter

Twice each year the Society publishes a newsletter, circulated free to members containing reports of meetings, County Coordinators' reports, and contributions from members along with illustrations.

(b) Journal of the Milestone Society

The first volume of "Milestones & Waymarkers", the Journal of the Milestone Society, was published in October 2004, the second volume in October 2006 and the third in October 2009. The Journal will form a permanent record of the work of the Society, its members and other supporters and specialists, working within the aims and objectives of the Society. The articles will be as fully researched and referenced as possible and each should stand alone as a complete piece of work and will therefore be more comprehensive than the short, general interest type of article published in the Newsletter. It is a refereed journal and contributions are welcomed from prospective authors

Material should be submitted in the first instance to :

Terry Keegan, The Oxleys, Tenbury Road, Clows Top, Kidderminster, Worcs. DY14 9HE

(c) On the Ground

An annual review reporting on a range of Society-led and supported activities around the country. Issue 6 was published in October 2009.



National Database of Milestones

It is intended that the work of the County Groups in locating and recording milestones will be combined into an electronically-based national database which will record specific details of each marker in a standard format and thereby provide a permanent, searchable record for research and archival purposes, thereby furthering the aims of the Society in the conservation, protection, preservation and restoration of this aspect of our national heritage.

Position and Conservation of Milestones - Milestone Society Policy

The Society has produced a short document detailing the policy which it believes should be adopted on these matters. Click here to produce the document

Guidance on Conservation of Milestones & other Waymark Features :

An aim of the Society, in additon to locating and recording milestones, is to work towards their conservation and, when necessary and when permission has been obtained, their restoration or replacement. There are difficult issues to resolve, especially with regard to the best treatment for old stone or rusting iron. Alan Rosevear has produced a document addressing such issues based on observations made by members of the Society and advice from those with some experience working with roadside items. It is given in good faith but has not been verified or checked by conservation professionals. Individual users must take responsibility for the selection of appropriate techniques or materials for a particular project. A copy of the document "Guidance on Conservation of Milestones & other Waymark Features" may be downloaded in PDF format by clicking on the following link: Conserv_Guid.pdf
or by contacting Alan Rosevear by e-mail (Rosevear1@aol.com).

Membership

Annual subscriptions are £10 single or £12 for a couple at the same address, and £15 for group membership and fall due on 1 June each year.

Further information

More details on the Society, including forthcoming meetings can be obtained from Terry Keegan, The Oxleys, Tenbury Road, Clows Top, Kidderminster, Worcestershire DY14 9HE.


Missing milestones, vandalism and theft

A major concern of the Society is the loss of our milestone heritage through deliberate theft, which in view of the massive weight of stones or posts most often involves the plates recording mileages attached to the stones. Milemarkers in place are the property of the authority responsible for the upkeep of the road and unauthorised removal of any part of them therefore constitutes a crime. One aim of this website is to alert members to such losses, and therefore help identify stolen material which may appear at car-boot sales, antique fairs, private properties, etc and even advertised on commercially-based websites. The fact that reliable records with photographs are now being made and an inventory of the nation's milestones collected and recorded on searchable computer databases should deter future losses, since identification and proof of provenance will be a straightforward matter.

Members who are aware of theft of a milestone or milepost are urged to report the theft to the police and, importantly, to get a crime number. Also, it is useful to report it to Salvo on the website: http://www.salvo.co.uk/stolen.html where a register of such stolen items is advertised.


MILESTONE SOCIETY POSTCARDS

The Society has now published nineteen postcards (numbers 20 to 22 are imminent) featuring milestones in a growing and highly attractive collectable series. Existing issues of the cards are:

  1. A reproduction of the cover of Mervyn Benford's SHIRE book
  2. A selection of milestone pictures in black and white from the Ken Diamond collection
  3. Yorkshire milestones (commissioned by the Yorkshire branch)
  4. A selection of all-metal markers plus a "Bow Bells" post
  5. The superb A49 example near Wigan
  6. Warwickshire milestones (branch commission)
  7. Huntingdonshire milestones (local history group commission via society branch)
  8. Worcestershire milestones (branch commission)
  9. Cornish milestones (in preparation)
  10. Highway and Way markers of Yorkshire
  11. The Vale of the White Horse
  12. Dorset Milestones - Our County's Heritage
  13. Dartmoor Milestones (published with support from DNPA)
  14. Cumbria Milestones (1)
  15. Cumbria Milestones (2)
  16. Norfolk Milestones
  17. Devon Milestones
  18. Somerset Milestones
  19. Cheshire Milestones
  20. Surrey Milestones
  21. Essex Milestones
  22. 10th Anniversary postcard

The price of each card is 25p; please include two second class postage stamps with your order, or add the equivalent value to the cost of the cards.
Cheques should be made payable to: The Milestone Society
Further information and orders for the cards should be addressed to:
Terry Keegan, The Oxleys, Tenbury Road, Clows Top, Kidderminster, Worcs. DY14 9HE


Recent publications about milestones and related topics

Mervyn Benford: Milestones (Shire Publications Ltd., Princes Risborough; 2002); 48pp, ISBN 0 7478 0526 1. Price £4.99
Carol Haines: Marking the Miles, A History of English Milestones (self-published; 2000); 188pp, ISBN 0-9538885-0-9. Price £12. Click for sales info
Alan Rosevear:Milestones and Toll Houses on Old Turnpike Roads (self-published); 23pp. Price £2.60. This is part of a series of monographs on roads across the Upper Thames Valley - further details are available from the author (e-mail: Rosevear1@aol.com).
Howard Smith: The Guide Stoops of the Dark Peak (self-published; 2000); 80pp, ISBN 0-9521541-3-7. Price £5.
Howard Smith: The Guide Stoops ofDerbyshire (self-published; 2000); 109pp, ISBN 0-9521541-4-5. Price £6.99
Ruth & Alan Thompson: The Milestones of Arran (self-published; 2000); Price £6.50. Copies may be purchased from the Secretary.
Jamie Quartermaine, Barrie Trinder, and Rick Turner:Thomas Telford's Holyhead Road - The A5 in north Wales (CBA Research Report 135) (Council for British Archaeology; 2003); 182pp, ISBN 1-902771-34-6. Price £19.95. Copies may be purchased from the Secretary.
Stuart Slack: Manx Milestones (The Manx Experience, Onchan, Isle of Man IM3 3BW, 2003); ISBN 1 873 120 583. Price £7.99
Richard K Morriss: The Archaeology of Roads (Tempus Pub. 2005); 304 pp, ISBN: 075242887X. Price £19.99.
David Viner: Roads, Tracks & Turnpikes (Dovecote Press, 2007); 80 pp, ISBN: 9781904349143. Price £4.95.
Andrew Emmerson & Peter Bancroft: A, B, C and M: Road Numbering Revealed (Capital History, 2007); 94 pp, ISBN: 9781854143075. Price £7.95.
Worcestershire Group of the Milestone Society: Finding Worcestershire Milestones (Milestone Society, 2007); 32 pp, ISBN: 9780955753800. Price £3.50.
William Albert: The Turnpike Road System in England 1663-1840 (CUP, repr.2006, first pub. 1972); 300 pp, ISBN: 9780521033916. Price £27.99.


Related Websites

Publication - Marking the Miles, A History of English Milestones

Milestonesweb-counting down the miles

Milestonesonline.co.uk

Thames valley milestones

Boundary stones, Mile stones and Waymarker stones

Byways & Bridleways Trust

Great North Road

Ayrshire Milestones

Yorkshire Milestones

Turnpike Roads in England

Milestones & Boundary Markers in Glamorgan

Local History Online


Links to Resource Materials for Wayside Features

(a) Glossary of terms relating to wayside features - click here
(b) Draft versions of terminology describing milestones and fingerposts - click here


The Ken Diamond collection of photographs

The copyright to this unique collection of approximately 4500 photographs of milestones and other street furniture is owned by the Milestone Society. It has now been recorded on CD and DVD and may be purchased in either format subject to observance of the Society's copyright.

Click here for details of how to purchase


Old maps on the internet

The July 2005 Newsletter contained information on the Ordnance Survey First Edition County Series 6"/mile maps which are available on the internet at www.old-maps.co.uk. and which were produced during the second half of the 19th century. Some further details on how to access the maps are given here. Click here to produce the details


ENDPIECE

There is a new addition entitled Turnpike Roads in England to the list of 'Related Websites' given on this webpage. This new webpage not only gives information on the title subject but also contains links to information on tollhouses, milestones, road users and turnpike trusts. Another useful link provides draft reference material for the Society, including a preliminary list of 'Glossary of terms relating to Wayside features, including milestones' - for a direct link to this latter information click here.

Comments on any of the above features related to the 'Turnpike Roads in England' website can be addressed to Alan Rosevear (e-mail: Rosevear1@aol.com).




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******************** The Milestone Society - July 2010 ********************