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http://www.milestonesonline.co.uk

http://www.waymarkers.co.uk

The Milestones and Way Markers of Essex

When this website was first being put together (summer 2002), a survey of Essex milestones is still underway.  By October one hundred and sixteen (116) milestones and mileposts were identified as remaining in the county and less than half have Grade II listed status.  It was believed that this would be the final total but almost a year later new examples continue still come to light.  Over one hundred and thirty (130) have now been located. As items that had virtually outlived their reason for existence by the opening of the 20th century, it is amazing that so many do survive.  The demise of the turnpikes in the mid 1800s (The Hadleigh Trust folded as early as 1820) meant that many stones were abandoned and sometimes robbed out for use elsewhere.  Road improvements in the 1920s and 1930s probably caused the further loss of many stones.  Further losses can be blamed on the Second World War when, in 1940 with the possibility of an invasion, all milestones, mile plates and guide posts were removed, buried or defaced.  Many were never replaced once the invasion threat had passed.  Since the Second World War further losses have occurred, partly through further road redevelopments.  The humble milestone is easy prey for the giant machinery used in road building.  Unfortunately mile plates (cast iron milestones also known as mileposts) are sometimes targeted by thieves.

Unlike milestones, the guidepost, also referred to as signpost, finger post or direction post, still has an everyday purpose, especially in rural areas.  Old wooden examples still to be seen into the 1950s have long since disappeared; in fact many were probably not re-erected in 1944.  Post war, they were usually replaced by new wooden signs or precursors of the modern reflective types so common throughout the United Kingdom today.  19th century cast iron posts with fingered arms were still fairly common into the 1920s but now probably destroyed except one preserved in the Upminster Tithe Barn Museum.

A survey is currently being made to ascertain the number of old iron guide posts extant in Essex.  'Old' means those erected prior to c.1939 and mainly comprise cast iron examples ordered by Essex County Council or their agents in the 1920s and 1930s.  The majority of the 1920s and 1930s posts were manufactured by the Maldon Iron Works of Fullbridge, Maldon, Essex.  Although still fulfilling their role in guiding the motorist and walker alike, their future is not guaranteed and many suffer from neglect as well as destruction on the grounds of being in "an unsafe condition".  From the same period, although not as yet reliably dated, are others by Stanton Ironworks, Derbyshire.  The Stanton types are generally recognisable by their narrow ring (annulus) finial castings on the post and rounded ends to the arms.

More details of the posts manufactured by Maldon Iron Works for Essex County Council have recently become available.  The ledgers, daybooks, order books, etc., of the company from 1873 to 1954 have been catalogued by the Essex Record Office.  They may be found under record D/F 11 (with about 50 sub-divisions).  The cost of Maldon Iron Works posts with arms varied between £4/15/- (£4.75p) to £6/10/- (£6.50p) in the 1920s.  7 inch arms were 12/6 (62½p) and 10½ inch arm 15/- (75p).  An extra 5/- (25p) was incurred for a single stagger (one arm above the other) or 10/- (50p) for a double stagger.  This was to cover the cost of extra collars between the arms.

Uttlesford in the northwest of Essex has by far the greatest number of surviving cast iron guideposts; over one third of those in the county are to be found in this district.  As to be expected, most are Maldon Iron Works examples but there is a good selection of Stantons too.The condition of the posts varies enormously but those at Felsted (one by Maldon Iron Works and the other two by Stanton) have been maintained to a very high standard.  Some refurbishment (mostly painting) has been carried out to many other posts in the district during 2003.  Unfortunately, with the exception of the Felsted examples and the one at High Roding, the traditional black and white banding has not been applied to the posts.

The three cast iron fingerposts in Henham were all part of an order by Essex County Council (order number 2404) dated 6 February 1933 and were made by the Maldon Iron Works of Maldon, Essex. Two still retain their semicircular parish plate finials (it would be nice if someone would fund a replacement for the missing one).  The semicircular finials are unique to Essex and follow similar shaped finials fitted to wooden fingerposts in the late 1800s.  Some of the wooden examples certainly survived until 1940 but I have no evidence of any wooden ones refitted after the war.