APOLOGIES have been received from the President, Mrs Sue Boex. The Vice President, Don Cochrane introduced the speaker, Terry Keegan, a founder member of, ‘The Milestone Society’, whose illustrated talk was entitled ‘Milestones and their preservation’.

Mr Keegan began with the history of British milestones which originated with the Roman invasion of Britain 550 years ago. Roman roads were built for military purposes, distances marked the upright stones, each stone being a ‘mille passum’ (literally a thousand steps) from the next, hence the origin of our English word ‘mile’ and subsequently ‘milestone’.

Roman milestones gradually disappeared recycled as lintels, doorsteps, gateposts etc. Wheeled vehicles in the 14c and 15c wreaked havoc with the old roads so in 1555 local parishes became responsible for their upkeep. Jp’s appointed surveyors to ensure that the local inhabitants maintained the roads in good order but with little success. However, in 1663, the highways Act allowed tolls to be levied for the upkeep of the Great North Road, the first gated turnpike, others followed.

Turnpike Trusts came into being with the 1773 Turnpike Act, which made it compulsory for trusts to erect distance signs. Gravestone shaped milestones, made by the local stonemason, became a familiar sight, followed later by metal posts.

Railways, arriving in the late 1830’s, often paralleled the turnpikes which gradually declined. By 1888, county councils and district and rural councils became responsible for the roads and often replaced their milestones with metal, and late, concrete posts.

Many original mileposts were simply abandoned and disappeared into the undergrowth. The 1940’s caused further losses with the removal of anything showing a place name. Improvements to roads since then have caused further deterioration. The Black Country Museum in 2000, hosted a conference attended by 72 people, to discuss the recording of milestones, subsequently ‘The Milestone Society’ was formed to record and repair surviving milestones.

Mr Keegan’s slides showed the variations in the size, shape, material and design of milestones and he was pleased to say that many local people and parishes are now happy and repair their local milestones, a source of pride to their community. Talks such as this and the sale of books,etc, are helping to raise funds for ‘The Milestone Society’, to continue their work and with the co-operation of the Highways Authority, the future of milestones should be secured for succeeding generations.

Dave Hickman gave the vote of thanks for a splendid and delightful talk.