Milestone on Clapham Common South Side Marking 4 1/2 Miles from Whitehall

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

A milestone, probably erected in 1745 and inherited by the Epsom, Ewell and Tooting Turnpike Trust in 1755. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1475097
Date first listed:: 14-Jun-2021
List Entry Name:: Milestone on Clapham Common South Side Marking 4 1/2 Miles from Whitehall

The Missing Pieces Project

Share your view of unique places.

Add your contribution

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

🏠 Buildings
🏰 Scheduled monuments
🌳 Parks and gardens
⚔️ Battlefields
⚓ Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Historic England Archive

Search over 1 million photographs and drawings from the 1850s to the present day using our images archive.

Find Photos

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1475097
Date first listed:: 14-Jun-2021
List Entry Name:: Milestone on Clapham Common South Side Marking 4 1/2 Miles from Whitehall
Location Description:: West side of Clapham Common South Side, on traffic island at junction with The Avenue. Approximate grid reference TQ2886774402.

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:: Greater London Authority
District:: Lambeth (London Borough)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: TQ2886774402

Summary

A milestone, probably erected in 1745 and inherited by the Epsom, Ewell and Tooting Turnpike Trust in 1755.

Reasons for Designation

The Milestone on Clapham Common South Side, probably dating from 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;

* 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 surviving milestones marking the historic route between London and Brighton, and with the Clapham South Deep Tube Shelter and Surface Building at Lambeth Entrance (List entry 1385901; 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 milestone on Clapham Common South Side is part of a series of milestones probably erected in 1745 and later inherited by the Epsom, Ewell and Tooting Turnpike Trust, which was established in 1755. The milestones along the route marked distances along the road from Westminster and London Bridge to Banstead Downs via Tooting. In the mid-C19, competition from railways caused a fall in revenue and forced closure for many turnpike trusts. The Epsom, Ewell and Tooting Turnpike Trust ceased operations in 1870.

The milestone is marked in or close to its present position on John Rocque’s map of Surrey of 1768 with the label 4M. It is also visible on the Ordnance Survey map of 1894 and subsequent editions where it is labelled: Whitehall 4 ½, Royal Exchange 5.

At some point in the C19, an Ordnance Survey benchmark was carved into the east face of the milestone. Such benchmarks were systematically introduced by the Ordnance Survey in 1840, but some appeared as early as 1831. Many milestones across the country had their inscriptions removed in 1940 following fears of enemy invasion, but were re-inscribed after the end of the Second World War. The present inscriptions marking distances to Whitehall and the Royal Exchange probably originate from the early C19, when measurements from The Standard were finally abandoned in favour of the nearby Royal Exchange, but may have be re-inscribed after the Second World War.

Details

A milestone, probably erected in 1745 and inherited by the Epsom, Ewell and Tooting Turnpike Trust in 1755.

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 (south-east) face bears the inscription: ROYAL/ EXCHANGE/ 5/ MILES, with an Ordnance Survey benchmark below. A further inscription to the north-east face reads: WHITEHALL/ 4 ½ / MILES. A third inscription to the south-west face is partly eroded but probably also read: WHITEHALL/ 4 ½ / MILES.

Sources

Websites
A Rosevear, 'Turnpike Roads in England' (January 2008), accessed 9 March 2021 from http://www.turnpikes.org.uk/The Turnpike Roads.htm
London Milestones and Mileposts, accessed 9 March 2021 from http://www.metadyne.co.uk/n-milestones.html
Milestone maps, accessed 0/4/2021 from http://www.archiuk.com
Milestone maps, accessed 1/4/2021 from http://www.metadyne.co.uk
National Survey of Wayside Features by the Milestone Society on Geograph website, accessed 9 March 2021 from https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6037605

Legal

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