Summary

An early 19th century milestone marking 14 miles from London and 37 and a half miles from Brighton, on the former Croydon-Reigate turnpike road.

Description

An early-C19 milestone marking 14 miles from London and 37 and a half miles from Brighton, on the former Croydon-Reigate turnpike road.

MATERIALS: Surrey limestone.

DESCRIPTION: carved pillar of limestone with a square-section shaft and a rounded cap. The front (east) face bears the inscription: ‘XIV / MILES / FROM / WESTMINSTER / BRIDGE / 37½ / MILES / TO / (BRIGH)TON’. There are identical inscriptions to the north and south faces. There is a carved benchmark on top of the milestone.

History

Many important routes in England were created or enhanced in the C18 or C19 to facilitate longer-distance overland travel. New and improved roads required new infrastructure including markers to inform travellers of directions and distances. With the rapidly expanding transport network of stagecoaches, their improved performance in the mid-C18 and the introduction of mail coaches in 1784, milestones became even more important to help coaches keep to schedule. Most milestones were created and maintained by turnpike trusts; bodies established by Acts of Parliament that collected tolls from road users. From the 1740s, the trusts were encouraged to provide mile markers along their routes, and under the 1766 General Turnpike Act milestones became compulsory on all turnpike roads.

Prior to the late C18, travel through Sussex had been hindered by its topography, mainly due to the impenetrable Wealden Forest. By the C19, improvements to the highway infrastructure and the increasing demand for leisure travel, following the emergence of the fashionable seaside resort of Brighton, were the catalysts for the construction of direct routes to the Sussex coast. Milestone 14 was erected along a new route via Coulsdon and Reigate established by the Croydon and Reigate Turnpike Trust in about 1808, which, according to Tristram (p193), became the most popular route of all.

The Milestone is one of a series of three marking the distances from Westminster Bridge and Brighton, which are recorded on Edward Mogg’s road survey of 1817 (Mogg pp 47-54) and which Charles Harper dates to around 1820 (Harper p130). The inscriptions on the milestones refer to ‘Brighton’ instead of ‘Brighthelmston’, further indicating an early C19 date.

Milestone 14 was moved to the back of the pavement during the mid-C20, probably for protection from vehicular damage. Its original location is denoted on the Ordnance Survey map of 1912 and subsequent editions, where it is labelled ‘Westminster Bridge 14, Brighton 37½’. Of the original three milestones, number 13 survives one mile to the north, on the south-east side of Brighton Rd, by Milestone Drive; milestone 15 to the south is now lost.

Reasons for Listing

Milestone 14, marking 14 miles from London on the west side of Brighton Road (A237), Croydon, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as an intact milestone with legible carved inscriptions of the early-C19 that survives very close to its original location.

Historic interest:

* as part of a sequence of two surviving early-C19 milestones, marking an important historic route between London and Brighton;
* as an increasingly rare example of the many milestones erected to manage the operation of a network of independent turnpikes connecting London to the South Coast.

Group value:

* for its strong functional relationship with Milestone 13 (Grade II; National Heritage List for England entry 1493097).

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