| This category is for milestones and stone direction markers. Concrete mass produced distance markers are not accepted |
| Milestones
are the forerunners of today's roadside distance signs. They indicate
the distance by road to one or more destinations. The distance may be
indicated in miles, kilometres, or even in hours.
The primary purpose of a milestone is to inform the travelling
public of distances and directions to travel to various destinations.
This distinguishes them from benchmarks, survey stones, trig points and
so on whose primary audience is of surveyors. Guide posts, which are stones with directions but no distance are also acceptable.
In the automobile age, milestones have been superseded by
sheet metal signs, readable from a moving car, and latterly by the
in-car GPS satnav, but many remain as a reminder of a time when the
pace of travel was such that navigation information could be read from
a roadside stone.
Due to the fact that they have been superseded, milestones are
typically of historic interest. | |
History and Further Information
The first great road-builders in Europe were the Romans. As the saying
goes "all roads lead to Rome". Milestones beside Roman roads naturally
indicated the distance to Rome, no other destination was necessary!
(specifically to the millarium
aureum or "golden milestone"). Obviously many of
these are now in museums. Some Roman milestones remain in Britain, see roman-britain.org
for more details. Many Roman Milestones or bornes millaires
are in France. For details of the Lyon area see Archeolyon
(in French), and there is more information on French Roman Roads (voies
romaines) here.
| A granite Milestone
on Dartmoor, Devon UK |
In the UK milestones of various kinds exist. Some belonging to formal
series, others not. For example, in 1697 William III passed an Act
decreeing that in the more remote parts of the kingdom, where two or
more paths intersected, local surveyors were to erect guide stones
known as guide
stoops showing the way to the nearest market town. There is a
series of geocaches
associated with these. Milestones are also found on canals, for example
the Leeds
Liverpool Canal | Guide Stoops Hopton |
|
In the USA, Milestones were erected beside the first major roads,
constructed in colonial times. An example is Zane's Trace
(now on route 22). The surveyor Dr. S. M. Johnson, inspired by the millarium
aureum originated the idea of the
Zero Milestone in Washington as the point from which
distances in the USA should be measured. | 
ZERO Milestone on
the Ellipse Washington DC |
Other
countries have zero milestones or zero kilometre stones. such as the 0-km sten in Viborg, Denmark.
The Marco Zero is the zero milestone of São Paulo in Brazil.
|
 |
| 0 km-sten, 0 km
stone,
Viborg,
Denmark |
|
In France too, some bornes kilometriques still
exist. Some examples can be found at the following sites, on N20
and N10 For general information on bornes routières see this wikipedia page (in French). | |
|
The Milestone
Society is a UK society devoted to milestones. Other useful
websites are
Yorkshire Milestones
,the Public Monument and Sculpture Association National Recording Project
and the milestones
page of the Route 40 website. | |
Definition
You are looking for distance
markers which are
embedded in the ground or in walls with destination names and/or distance
inscribed. Nearly always these will be of stone, although some are of
cast iron. Some places have a "zero milestone" like
the millarium
aureum described above. These too are of interest, even though they
don't have a distance and a destination (they ARE the destination).
They will normally be beside roads, but milestones beside canals and disused
railway (railroad) lines are allowable too. | |
| This
category is primarily interested in milestones created before 1960, but more recent ones with historic links will be accepted. For
example, a milestone created as a special memorial, or a facsimile of
an old milestone. The UK Sustrans National Cycle Network Millennium Mileposts (see here) are accepted. More recent milestones will be considered, provided that they are not of the mass produced type, on an individual basis. | |
| Update As of Apr 2012 we also accept markers or memorials that commemorate the completion of particular roads. |
Specific exclusions are:
- Modern
mass-produced mile markers.eg many markers of the same style along one road, bearing nothing but numbers, and differing only in the stated distance. Typically concrete.
- Stones or monuments
that are not specifically for indicating distance and/or destination (eg boundary stones,
meridian markers)
- Signs (sheet metal attached to
a wall, anything mounted on a pole, that kind of thing)
- ANWB
Paddenstoelen. These have their own category, and should be waymarked
there.
- Railway (railroad) distance markers beside
active railways. These are dangerous!!
|