Milestone on Rose Hill

Summary

A milestone, erected by the Surrey & Sussex Turnpike Trust in 1745.

Reasons for Designation

The Milestone on Rose Hill, dated 1745, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as an intact and largely legible milestone that survives in its original location.

Historic interest:

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

Group value:

* as part of a sequence of surviving milestones marking the historic route between London and Brighton.

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 Surrey and Sussex Turnpike Trust was established in 1718. The milestone on Rose Hill is part of a series of milestones erected in 1745 by the Trust marking distances along the road from Westminster and London Bridge to Banstead Downs. From 1755, the milestones also marked the route of the turnpike road to Brighton via Reigate. At that time Brighton was a small fishing village known as Brighthelmstone. It became an increasingly popular destination after Dr Richard Russell advocated the medical qualities of the seawater there in around 1747. Consequently, the turnpike roads between London and Brighton became more important and were expanded by the various turnpike trusts. In the mid-C19, competition from railways caused a fall in revenue and forced closure for many turnpike trusts. By 1847, the Surrey & Sussex Turnpike Trust controlled over 60 miles of roads between London and Brighton, but it ceased operations in 1882.

The milestone is marked in or close to its present position on John Rocque’s map of Surrey of 1768 with the label 10M. It is also visible on the Ordnance Survey map of 1871 and subsequent editions where it is labelled: Whitehall 10 ½ / Royal Exchange 11.

Westminster Bridge, leading to Whitehall, did not open until 1750, so when the milestone on Rose Hill was first erected in 1745 it probably bore an inscription on what is now its north face marking the distance to The Standard, Cornhill, a water pump that was the earliest measuring point for milestones in London and remained so even after its removal in 1674. Traces of this probable inscription are visible on the north face of the milestone but are now indecipherable. The present inscriptions marking distances to Whitehall and the Royal Exchange were probably added in the early C19, when measurements from The Standard were finally abandoned in favour of the nearby Royal Exchange. Many milestones in Sutton, as across the country, had their inscriptions removed in 1940 following fears of enemy invasion, but were re-inscribed soon after the end of the Second World War. It is likely that this was the case for the milestone on Rose Hill.

Details

A milestone, erected by the Surrey & Sussex Turnpike Trust in 1745.

MATERIALS
Limestone.

DESCRIPTION
The milestone takes the form of a carved pillar of limestone with a square-section shaft and a pyramidal cap. The front (east) face bears the inscription: ROYAL/ EXCHANGE/ XI/ MILES/ WHITEHALL/ X/ MILES. There are traces of further inscriptions to the north face that are now indecipherable, although the date of 1745 is still legible.

Sources

Books and journals
Harper, C G, The Brighton Road, (1922)

Websites
A Rosevear, 'Turnpike Roads in England' (January 2008), accessed 9 March 2021 from http://www.turnpikes.org.uk/The%20Turnpike%20Roads.htm
Milestone Society Repository, accessed 9 March 2021 from https://www.msocrepository.co.uk/
London Milestones and Mileposts, accessed 9 March 2021 from http://www.metadyne.co.uk/n-milestones.html
Milestone maps, accessed 1/4/2021 from http://www.archiuk.com 
Milestone maps, accessed 1/4/2021 from http://www.metadyne.co.uk 

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