The Beginnings of
The Milestone Society
The following are pages from a letter sent from R. Gregson to Mervyn Benford, care of The Daily Telegraph newspaper 'Weekend' supplement. As far as why the pages are with me now goes, they were passed to me by my Sister-in-Law. She is R. Gregson's niece.
R. Gregson was Rodney Gregson, but for some reason he became known as Bob. That's not a normal hypocorism. Bob liked all things history, but was in particular a railway enthusiast. He was a well-known author with regard to Railway History Books, well at least locally in Lancashire.
I perhaps met Bob, at my Brother's wedding, but he's not somebody that I had regular contact with. I worked for Bob's brother David (Dave) for the best part of a decade. He founded a very successful software company that is now based on Buckshaw Village, Chorley, Lancashire.
Initially, I wasn't sure if there was any outcome following Bob's letter. Posting on the Milestone Society website allowed me to glean the following information:
Mervyn Benford was a founder member of the Milestone Society and is still one of their charity trustees. His first letter to The Telegraph highlighting the neglect of our roadside heritage was in 1999. That produced hundreds of letters of support and lead to the founding of the Society in 2001. They believe that the article referred to in the letter from Bob Gregson was published in 2000. Effectively, Bob's letter was in support of the campaign, representing his knowledge of Lancashire, centring around Preston.
Covering Letter [undated - circa 2000]
Mervyn Benford,
c/o Weekend,
Daily Telegraph,
1 Canada Square,
London, E14 5UT.
Dear Mr Benford,
I was handed a rather dated cutting from the Weekend, giving details of your campaign to preserve our disappearing roadside heritage. The article was of immense interest to myself, as I have been involved, over the years, in recording various aspects of our industrial and transport heritage. I have a considerable archive of photographs, featuring industrial and transport related architecture and artefacts, including Victorian railway buildings, old mills and monuments; stonework, plaques; cast-iron items such as information plates, lamp columns, fountains and boundary markers, etc. Stone and cast-iron milestones fall into this category, together with canal mileposts and railway boundary stones.
The following sketches serve to illustrate a variety of milestones that I have discovered within a radius of sixty miles of my home in Preston. I hope they will be of some use to you. If you require any further information on these findings, please don't hesitate to ask.
Good luck with your campaign.
R. Gregson.
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Page 1
Milestone with circular cast-iron plate, on A 673 near Allington, Chorley.
This is one of three survivors on this stretch of road. The others indicate:
BOLTON 7 CHORLEY 4
BOLTON 9 CHORLEY 2
They are all in fairly good Condition, and have been painted within the last 2 years.
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One of the many milestones to be found by the A6. The one illustrated is at Whittle-le-Woods near Chorley. It has recently been painted and is in good condition. Note the bench-mark, a familiar feature on milestones.
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Another A6 stone at Whittle-le-Woods. Thin wedge, or Keystone pattern with cast-iron description plate, bearing Seriphed letters. Reverse plate reads: To CHORLEY 4 MILES
Again, this has recently been painted and is in good Condition. It appears to have been re-sited following road-widening operations.
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Page 2
Tombstone pattern on A 674 at cherry Tree, near Blackburn. In much need of Scraping down and painting.
The figure 2 is contained in a square of different quality stone, indicating that the original figure was either damaged or inaccurate. The Words MILES, PRESTON AND BLACKBURN begin with larger Capital letters.
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Yet another A6 example. This seems to be a standard pattern between Preston and Garstang. A semi-circular stone pillar on a Square base, with Convex iron plates upon which the details are beautifully inscribed. Most are in good Condition, with three having recently been painted. Of the original 7 on this stretch, only 6 remain, one having disappeared when junction 32 was enlarged (M6) south of Barton.
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Further North on the A6 we find milestones of a different pattern. There are 7 survivors in total between Forton and Yealand, and only the example at Forton appears to have received any attention in recent years. The stones at Slyne-with-Hest and Yealand are in poor Condition (possible traffic damage).
They are of a wedge shaped pillar with integral capping and stand upon a semi-circular base. The details are Contained in cast-iron plates.
note the unusual 4 3/4 miles to Garstang (IIII 3/4 instead of IV 3/4)
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Page 3
A magnificent study in Cast-iron on the A675 between Chorley and Standish, Near Wigan. I have only been able to locate 4 on this stretch: these being at Coppull, Langtree, Charnock Richard and Duxbury. They are all in good Condition, but require painting.
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A mention should be given here regarding boundary stones. This well-detailed stone is on the A6070, and an identical one can be found on the A6 near Milnthorpe. In both Cases, some of the details have been obscured either by Sinking, or Careless filling. Both stones are in good Condition, but haven't been painted in years.
The above dressings have been taken from photographs. There are many more examples of milestones in the photographic archive, but I have ones illustrated are the most common designs to be found in the given radius of activity.
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Covering Letter [undated]
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
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The Milestone Society
Established in May 2001, The Milestone Society aim to “identify, record, research, conserve and interpret for public benefit the milestones and other waymarkers of the British Isles”. Their members’ interests also include tollhouses, turnpike history and canal milestones. The Milestone Society gained Charitable status in 2004.
https://www.milestonesociety.co.uk/
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