Wayside markers before the Turnpikes Trusts

Finding the way in unfamiliar territory has always been an important concern for the traveller. Asking local people the way was a common remedy, but markers erected by the roadside were important, particularly where no-one lived. Wayside markers provide a prominent feature where a decision had to be made, such as at a junction, crossing or pass. Standing stones, some shaped into crosses to make them more distinctive, still survive at remote crossings in the upland areas of Britain. More usefully, these stone pillars might be inscribed to indicate which particular path led to an important destination, and even more useful the distance to the particular places. A vertical post or stone provides a prominent marker but a horizontal mark gives a direction across the land. Engraving in a stone was a convenient means of indicating direction and distance and the portrayal of the human index finger gave a clear sign of intention. Guide stoops with these characteristics are common on the Pennine moors. The addition of a horizontal pointer made the information clearer, especially where this formed a multidirectional fingerpost.

 

Another early type of wayside marker indicated where a boundary was crossed. These are not limited to roadsides, but a roadside boundary marker could be used to provide additional guidance to the traveller. This was especially the case when the boundary was for a responsibility related to the road; the Oxford Mileway Markers that indicated the limits of responsibility for highway maintenance are a good example.

 

Although a few Roman Milestones have survived, it is unlikely that they are in their original position and these have been excluded from this assessment.

 

The table below summarises the numbers of wayside markers that have been recorded in the Milestone Society database. The following sections describe the main categories of wayside markers from the period before roads were turnpiked. The data in the table suggests that only a small proportion of the wayside stones that are visible today date from a period before the turnpikes began to erect milestones in the 1740s.

Old Wayside Markers

It is difficult to judge how widespread the use of wayside markers was across Britain. The functions of waymakers were later taken on by signposts or milestones and the sites at important junctions, have been repeatedly redeveloped. Hence, it is likely that the few remaining have been moved, altered or are atypical. The surviving evidence is mainly of stone features in upland areas, generally remote locations where there has been no permanent settlement. It would be unsafe to assume that waymakers were not equally common in the remote parts of lowland Britain or that the makers were routinely of stone.

 

Adaptation of natural features, the piling of stones to form cairns or the erection of a natural long stone would have been the earliest, enduring wayside makers. Though it is fascinating to speculate on the function of any spreads of stone, it is wise to exclude these un-datable features from a systematic study of waymarkers. Stones have been intentional carved provide surer evidence of a function to mark a way.

 

Wayside Crosses may be the earliest category of man-made wayside marker. In the far Southwest and on the Pennines, carved crosses dating from before the Conquest survive and the tradition of erecting crosses at junctions continued until at least the 15th century. Dating these can be difficult, though the Saxon ones tend to have complex ornamentation (see picture below) whereas the medieval crosses are generally simpler. Disentangling the religious, charitable, memorial and practical motives for erecting these crosses has provided plenty of scope for speculation. Many do seem to be dotted along the paths between monastic sites, though secular travellers would follow a similar path. The interpretation is made more ambiguous by the damage caused, particularly to the carved cross heads, during the Reformation and Commonwealth periods. It further complicated as a result of the enthusiastic “saving”, remodelling and relocation of the surviving shafts during Victorian times. The style, and even some pieces of broken crosses, was adapted to create War Memorials after the First World War.

 

The enthusiastic recording of surviving crosses and publication of several books and web sites demonstrate that the majority of the surviving crosses are in the upland areas of Southwest Britain; Dartmoor, Bodmin Moor, Wendron and West Penwith (Starkey provides a good Gazetteer for Devon and Andrew Langdon a series of comprehensive Gazetteers for Cornwall). The older wheel-headed crosses, which have a Celtic feel to them, are more common in the far west, whereas the cross heads in Devon are generally of a Latin style (a distinction between traditions on either side of the Tamar). Many of these crosses are now on tracks that are no longer regarded as highways, or have been removed to churchyards, so are not routinely recorded in the main Milestone Society database. However, lists of potentially surviving crosses, drawn up from published sources, can be found by clicking on Wayside Crosses in Cornwall or Wayside Crosses in Devon. There are a number of crosses amongst the surviving standing stones in the Pennines. In Derbyshire and Yorkshire many of these are attributed to Saxon craftsmen, whereas in Cumbria and further north they are generally described as Viking or Hebredian in design. There are also later crosses here that follow a similar pattern to those in Devon. The few surviving examples elsewhere in England, such as Walsingham, are more explicitly religious, rather than providing travel information. Click on the highlight for a preliminary list of the wayside crosses outside the SW of England. Place names such as Weeping Cross, which suggest a wayside cross, are found in several shire counties, though these crosses may have been of wood and so have perished.

 

Photographs of surviving Wayside Crosses are illustrated on the Flickr site;

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1068319@N22/

and; http://www.flickr.com/photos/tollhouses/sets/72157614609050819/

 

The Stone Crosses of Devon, outside the Dartmoor National Park have not received much attention since the Masson Phillips survey. These are discussed on a separate page; click on ancient stone crosses of Devon for details.

 

Guide Stoops or Guide Stones are the other large group of early waymakers. After the Dissolution, secular charities and donors took on the responsibilities for some highways and bridges, previously dealt with by ecclesiastical bodies. A few examples of elaborate memorial markers survive from this period. In Devon, Lady Rolle embellished the Spiritual Direction cross in 1743, although the original brick pillar at Bicton crossroads dates from 1580. An ornate Guide post, dated 1686, survives at Wroxton in Oxfordshire. However, a large number of the surviving guide stones can be linked to the legislation on signposting of cross highways in 1698. In the 1730s the cross roads on large moors and commons were given particular attention and the need to state distances was required. Evidence on the stones illustrates that magistrates were rather tardy in actually implementing the initial legislation since, where stones carry a date, this is generally from the first decade of the 18th century. (Huddersfield Highways down the Ages by WB Crump gives an excellent account of Guide Stoops)

 

Guide stoops survive in greatest number on the Pennines, particularly in Derbyshire and the North, South and West Ridings of Yorkshire. This may reflect the coincidence of bleak, open and dangerous moorland tracks with the need to carry goods between growing industrial communities in the late 17th century. The stoops often provide directional information in the form of a hand with a pointing index finger. In addition, some surviving stoops have not only the name of the town but also a distance to the destination in miles. There are many published examples of how these mileages differ from the modern mileage; the explanation normally being that at the period when these were erected, Customary Miles were common used. The logic for these local measures of distance is the subject of constant speculation (see Marking the Miles by Carol Haines) but a Customary Mile could be dramatically different from the standard mile, which had been introduced during the reign of Elizabeth. It was the legislation associated with the turnpike trusts that finally ensured that waymarkers used a common unit of distance, the Stature Mile.

 

Other upland areas have early guide stones, though they are generally less impressive than those on the Pennines. Around Dartmoor, there are stone posts, often bearing only the capital letters of the destination towns, which probably date from the period of the 1698 Act. In Cornwall there are almost a hundred granite guide posts engraved with place names. These may be mid-18th century but since turnpikes came late to this region, they were probably erected by the Justices, not trusts. Carol Haines (in Marking the Miles) states that in 1754 the landlord at the White Hart on Bodmin Moor paid for 22 milestones to guide travellers to his inn, and suggests that in the 18th century other acts of private enterprise or public subscription financed other non-turnpike milestones.

 

Early Fingerposts may have been made of wood and so the originals have long decayed; the survivors such as at Chipping Campden are clearly replacements. There are two 18th century fingerposts made of more durable material in Gloucestershire and elsewhere place names including the word “hands” suggests there were several more.

 

Boundary Stones beside the road span a wide period of time. Dartmoor is typical of upland Britain with markers for husbandry (warrens and grazing), mining, hunting and parish bounds (see Dartmoor Boundary Markers by D Brewer). Wayside crosses were sometimes adapted for these purposes (Bennet’s Cross is an example). Although the boundaries lie out in the moor, where they cross a road is one of the more important places so markers may be more common here, reinforcing the wayside feature. Only the markers beside the road are recorded routinely in the Milestone Society database.

 

Some boundary stones relate specifically to responsibilities of maintaining a road. Although bridges and causeys were very prominent examples of finance by charitable bequests, some sections of road were also maintained by donations. The limits of these highways needed to be clear and an example of this survives at Stowood in Oxfordshire. The Oxford Mileway Stones mark the limits of road that was to be repaired and maintained by contributions from parishes adjoining Oxford. This was established by Act of Parliament in the 1630s and was an early attempt to get remote parishes to contribute to the repair of a road they used to reach an important market. Today, these Mileway stones are the earliest examples of true English “milestones”.

 

True Milestones, which are regularly spaced along a route, were erected between 1712 and 1733 on the road between Barkway and Cambridge. These were commissioned by the Master of Trinity and bear the Hall crest. They pre-date the turnpiking of this road and the routine installation of milestones on turnpikes from 1740 onwards.

A look through the English Counties at Listed monuments and notable items

DORSET – 2 Listed wayside crosses

CAMBRIDGESHIRE – 16 Trinity stones

CORNWALL – potentially over 200 Wayside stone crosses, Examples given by Andrew Langdon on http://cornishcrosses.oldcornwall.org webpage..

CUMBRIA – none identified (some included in old Yorkshire)

DERBYSHIRE – a wayside cross over 50 guide stoops

DEVON – 7 Warren boundary markers, 10 guide stones; potentially over 100 Wayside stone crosses, Examples on Dartmoor identified in book by FH Starkey and website http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/cross_moor.htm

GLOUCESTERSHIRE – 3 early fingerposts

HEREFORDSHIRE – 1 wayside cross

KENT – Pilgrim Way marker

LANCASHIRE – 2 wayside crosses

LEICESTERSHIRE – 1 wayside cross

OXFORDSHIRE – 4 Oxford Mileways markers; Stowood Highway end stone; Wroxton Guide post

SOMERSET –3 Listed wayside crosses; ; 4 road end stones

SURREY – old stone

NORTH YORKSHIRE – 2 wayside crosses; 26 early guide stoops and over a hundred later guide stoops

SOUTH YORKSHIRE – 13 guide stoops; 11 later guide stoops

WEST YORKSHIRE – 22 guide stoops; 55 later guide stoops

 

Summary table of pre-turnpike wayside markers in English section of MSS database

COUNTY

Guess at Total surviving milestones

Pre-Turnpikes Wayside markers

beside road

Additional Notes on wayside features that are off road and not recoded in database

BEDFORDSHIRE

18

0

 

BERKSHIRE *

102

0

 

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE

147

0

 

CAMBRIDGESHIRE

138

16

 

CHESHIRE

295

0

Several stone crosses

CORNWALL

500

193

Plus ca 200 wayside crosses beside road and on moors and possibly more guide stones on moors

CUMBRIA

260

0

Several Viking crosses

DERBYSHIRE

188

54

Many dated 1709 to 1739 – may be other off road

DEVON

400

17

Plus ca 100 wayside crosses beside road and on moors and possibly more guide stones on moors

Some wayside crosses

DORSET

228

0

Plus 2 wayside crosses

DURHAM

155

0

 

ESSEX

119

0

 

GLOUCESTERSHIRE

220

0

Campden, Teddington and Toddington hands

HAMPSHIRE

335

0

 

HEREFORDSHIRE

250

1

 

HERTFORDSHIRE

90

0

Though see Cambridge Trinity set

KENT

140

1

1 wayside cross memorial

LANCASHIRE

110

2

possibly more guide stones on moors

LEICESTERSHIRE

72

1

 

LINCOLNSHIRE

140

0

 

MIDDLESEX

65

0

 

NORFOLK

350

0

Several wayside cross memorials

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

30

0

 

NORTHUMBERLAND

210

0

 

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE

35

0

 

OXFORDSHIRE *

190

6

 

RUTLAND

10

0

 

SHROPSHIRE

300

0

 

SOMERSET

280

4

Plus 3 wayside crosses

STAFFORDSHIRE

387

0

 

SUFFOLK

150

0

 

SURREY

165

1

 

SUSSEX

65

0

 

WARWICKSHIRE

45

0

 

EAST YORKSHIRE

112

0

 

NORTH YORKSHIRE

400

28

Plus 133 guide stones that may be of turnpike era but not erected by trusts - possibly more guide stones on moors

SOUTH YORKSHIRE

144

13

Plus 11 guide stones that may be of turnpike era but not erected by trusts - possibly more guide stones on moors

WEST YORKSHIRE

340

22

Plus 55 guide stones that may be of turnpike era but not erected by trusts - possibly more guide stones on moors

WILTSHIRE

380

0

 

WORCESTERSHIRE

230

0

 

 

7795

359

many

 

Examples of Pre-turnpike Wayside markers

Potential Guidestone at roadside on edge of Dartmoor

Bennet’s Cross – a Wayside Cross, later used as a warren boundary, beside a Dartmoor road.

Three Hole Cross, Egloshayle, Cornwall

Pre-turnpike, Trinity milestone, Cambridge

 

Guide Stoop in the Parish of Bradfield

Guide Stoop with hands in the Parish of Bradfield

Shaft of a Saxon cross from the moors above Bakewell

 

 
 

This page created by Alan Rosevear 4th March 2009.

Last Edited 4th June 2009.