Milestone at NGR SJ 29997 31019

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Overview

Milestone on Thomas Telford's Holyhead Road, dating from 1826-7. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1462386
Date first listed:: 15-Feb-2019
List Entry Name:: Milestone at NGR SJ 29997 31019

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1462386
Date first listed:: 15-Feb-2019
List Entry Name:: Milestone at NGR SJ 29997 31019
Location Description:: On the B5069 by a gateway, north of Oswestry, SY11 1HU.

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Shropshire (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Oswestry
National Grid Reference:: SJ2999831018

Summary

Milestone on Thomas Telford's Holyhead Road, dating from 1826-7.

Reasons for Designation

The milestone at NGR SJ 29977 31019 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 on the east side of the B5069, by a gateway, north of Oldport.

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/ 88 - M/ SALOP/ 18 M - 6 F.

Sources

Books and journals
Falconer, K, Guide to Englands Industrial Heritage, (1980), 186
Websites
Shropshire Historic Environment Record ref.21050, accessed 11.1.2019 from http://search.shropshirehistory.org.uk/collections/getrecord/CCS_MSA23604/
Other
'Thomas Telford's Milestones', David Elis-Williams, 2018

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.