Summary
Milestone on Thomas Telford's Holyhead Road, dating from 1826-7.
Reasons for Designation
The milestone at NGR SJ 29977 35737 on Thomas Telford's Holyhead Road, dating from 1826-1827, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* for its design by Thomas Telford, with use of good quality stone and cast iron to display the lettering.
Historic interest:
* for its association with the development of a major transport route in the early-C19, the Holyhead Road, surveyed by Thomas Telford, the first road in Britain since the Roman era to be publicly funded.
Group value:
* with the other original milestones along this route.
History
The 1800 Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland placed increasing importance on the route between London and Holyhead, the main port for sea travel between Ireland and Britain. Thomas Telford was appointed to survey the route, and presented his plans to Parliament in 1811 and funds were authorised for the construction of the route in 1815, the first road in Britain since Roman times to be publicly funded. Some sections of the road used existing turnpikes, while others were new.
As was standard practice at the time, milestones were to be provided along the entire route. Telford's opinion of existing milestone designs was less than complimentary, and he commissioned a new design which was to be the standard for the new road. The budget for the milestones was £642, and 106 were eventually laid, beginning after the completion of the Menai Bridge linking mainland Wales to Anglesey, and the milestones were laid throughout 1826 and 1827.
Telford specified that each milestone was to use the same stone, and one which was light in colour and hard wearing. The chosen stone came from the limestone quarries at Red Wharf Bay, and was the same as that used for the Menai Bridge. Each stone had a cast iron plate displaying the mileage to Holyhead firstly, and other locations below. The plate was painted black, and the lettering seems to have been picked out in a contrasting colour.
Details
Milestone on Thomas Telford's Holyhead Road, dating from 1826-7.
MATERIALS: Red Wharf Bay limestone with cast iron.
DESCRIPTION: the milestone stands just north of the point where the road crosses the Llangollen Canal, on the west side of the road.
The design of the milestone tapers from bottom to top, where it finishes in a pointed head. The cast iron panel is recessed into the front, and reads:
HOLY-/ HEAD/ 85 - M/ SALOP/ 21 M - 6 F.
