Milepost at SP 28830 32534

Summary

A cast-iron milepost, erected probably around 1818; re-erected 2017.

Reasons for Designation

The milepost at SP 28830 32534 in Long Compton is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* it has an unusually ornate and visual design which is enriched with decorative scrollwork.

Historic interest:

* as testament to the wave of road improvement and the introduction of turnpikes which facilitated the transport needs of this part of Warwickshire in the C18 and C19.

Group value:

* it is one of a series of almost identical mileposts built for this turnpike trust along this national route, of which six are known to survive.

History

The Stratford-upon-Avon to Long Compton Turnpike Trust was established by Act of Parliament in 1729 and a turnpiked road was subsequently established from Bridge Town in the parish of Old Stratford to the top of Long Compton Hill. An Account and Minute Book of March 1790 records that ‘Triangular Mile Posts be set up along the road with two iron plates to each of them setting forth the distance from London and Oxford’. The mileposts do not, however, appear to have been erected until around 1818 when an Act was passed which included provisions for the turnpike to be extended from Long Compton to the Inn at Chapel House to the south-east, along a new stretch of road also sanctioned in the same Act. A milepost (Shipston on Stour 7) in the same sequence is depicted on this new stretch of road on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1887, but does not seems to be extant.

The milepost (London 76) at SP 28830 32534 on Main Street in Long Compton is depicted on the 1887 OS map which records the distance as Shipston on Stour 6. It was restored and re-erected in 2017.

Details

A cast-iron milepost, erected probably around 1818; re-erected 2017.

DESCRIPTION: it consists of a cylindrical-fluted base onto which is surmounted a tall, fluted cast-iron shaft with decorative enrichment of bud-like form to the lower section. The shaft supports decorative wrought-iron scrollwork arms with simple acanthus leaf embellishment. These support an early-C21 wooden place name board (original not extant). At the top of the shaft there is further acanthus leaf decorative work.

Sources

Books and journals
Buxton, M, Re-instatement Project of a Gaslight-style Milepost on the Stratford-on-Avon to Long Compton Hill Turnpike in Warwickshire in Milestones & Waymarkers, The Journal of the Milestone Society incorporating On The Ground, Vol. 4, (2011), 29-31

Websites
Finding the Way, Restoration Project, accessed 5 February 2018 from http://www.findingtheway.org.uk/restorationproject.html

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