Milestone on A30 in Bagshot - 26 miles from Hyde Park Corner

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Overview

A milestone erected by the Bedfont and Bagshot Turnpike Trust in 1743, carved by Chertsey mason Stephen Hart. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1474955
Date first listed:: 22-Jul-2021
List Entry Name:: Milestone on A30 in Bagshot - 26 miles from Hyde Park Corner

General view of milestone — Uploaded by Tom Banks This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1474955
Date first listed:: 22-Jul-2021
List Entry Name:: Milestone on A30 in Bagshot - 26 miles from Hyde Park Corner
Location Description:: Milestone on the east side of the A30 road. Approximate OS grid reference SU9128263764.

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.

County:: Surrey
District:: Surrey Heath (District Authority)
Parish:: Windlesham
National Grid Reference:: SU9128263764

Summary

A milestone erected by the Bedfont and Bagshot Turnpike Trust in 1743, carved by Chertsey mason Stephen Hart.

Reasons for Designation

The Milestone on the A30 marking 26 Miles from Hyde Park Corner, erected in 1743, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons.

Architectural interest:

* as an intact and legible milestone that survives in its original location or the original location of a contemporaneous milestone, carved by a local mason.

Historic interest:

* as a mid-C18 milestone that testifies to the development of the transport network through the turnpike system;

* for the presence of the Ordnance Survey benchmark, which acts as a reminder of the dual functions of marking distance and providing elevation references taken on by many milestones in the C19.

Group value:

* as part of a sequence of designated milestones along this stretch of the A30/London Road, and with Bagshot Park (List entry 1001381; Grade II).

History

Milestones, along with mileposts and guideposts, are one of the most widespread forms of street furniture. Roads undergo such considerable alteration that milestones can be of particular note as testaments to the development of our transport network, and as reminders of the different perceptions of distance in a pre-motorised age. Milestones became prevalent in the mid-C18 when turnpike trusts were encouraged to provide such markers along their routes.

The Bedfont and Bagshot Turnpike Trust was established by an Act of Parliament in 1727 at a time when turnpike trusts were gaining popularity. The Trust was responsible for collecting tolls and maintaining a 15 mile stretch of the Western Road (now the A30/London Road) between the Hounslow Powder Mills and the Basingstone, an old stone which stood close to the Jolly Farmer Inn west of Bagshot. This was one of the principal routes between London and the South-West and partly follows the line of the old Roman road to Silchester. The route was popular with stagecoaches; records show that as many as 30 coaches a day called at Bagshot by 1829. The importance of the road in facilitating the transport of timber to the Hounslow Powder Mills is also thought to have been a factor in the decision to turnpike the road. In 1809 the Trust was split into two separate turnpike trusts: the east section became the Bedfont to Staines Trust, while the west section including this milestone on the A30 became the Egham to Bagshot Trust. In the mid-C19, competition from railways caused a fall in revenue and forced closure for many turnpike trusts. The Egham and Bagshot Turnpike Trust ceased operations in 1877, and in 1888, responsibility for the roads crossing Surrey Heath was taken on by local councils.

The milestone on the A30, 26 miles from Hyde Park Corner, forms part of a sequence of milestones erected by the Bedfont and Bagshot Turnpike Trust in 1743, one year before a 1744 Act of Parliament made milestones compulsory on most turnpike roads. The records of the Bedfont and Bagshot Turnpike Trust held at the London Metropolitan Archives show that Chertsey mason Stephen Hart was commissioned to carve 16 stones for the sum of £2 10s 0d each. It is reported that the milestones were carved from re-used blocks of limestone sources from Hounslow.

The milestone is marked in or close to its present position on John Rocque's map of Surrey of 1768. It is also visible on the Ordnance Survey map of 1872 and subsequent editions. Some of the milestones from the 1743 set are thought to have been removed and re-inscribed in the 1820s, and not necessarily put back in exactly the same positions. But historic maps do indicate the presence of a milestone at this location continuously since the mid-C18. At some point in the C19, an Ordnance Survey benchmark and rivet were carved into the top of the milestone. Such benchmarks were systematically introduced by the Ordnance Survey in 1840, but some appeared as early as 1831. In around 2017 the milestone was repainted white and the inscriptions picked out in black paint to make them more legible. Some surviving milestones along the A30 of the same design and limestone have a date inscription of 1743, including the Grade II-listed milestone marking 15 miles from Hyde Park Corner (List entry 1390714).

Details

A milestone erected by the Bedfont and Bagshot Turnpike Trust in 1743, carved by Chertsey mason Stephen Hart.

MATERIALS Limestone.

DESCRIPTION The milestone is situated on the east side of the A30 London Road, slightly set back from the pavement in an area of gravel. It has a square-section shaft of worked stone with a rounded, pyramidal cap. The front, west face is divided by a central horizontal cut with the upper half set back slightly. This face is inscribed with painted, black lettering that reads: 26 MILES/ FROM/ HYDE PARK/ CORNER. Above this, the angled west face is inscribed with an Ordnance Survey benchmark and rivet, which are also painted black and were probably added in the C19.

Sources

Books and journals
Eedle, M, A History of Bagshot and Windlesham, (1977), 58-59
A Rosevear, Draft version of A booklet on the Turnpike Roads around Reading (2004), accessed 1 March 2021 from http://www.turnpikes.org.uk/Reading%20turnpike%20roads.htm
Websites
Milestone Society Repository, accessed 1 March 2021 from https://www.msocrepository.co.uk/
Other
TP/BED: Records of the Bedfont and Bagshot Turnpike Trust, 1763-1850 accessed 25 February 2021 from https://search.lma.gov.uk/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/LMA_OPAC/web_detail/REFD+TP?SESSIONSEARCH

Legal

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