The Great Ouse Valley Trusts on milestones in Cambridgeshire

Before sat navs, milestones were vital to travellers; these markers would tell you where you were and how far it was to or from the next town.

They date from the mid-18th century when there was a nation-wide revolution in road travel and the roads were terrible.

So, from 1706 the Government, not wishing to pay for road maintenance, approved Acts of Parliament to allow financial trusts to raise money to improve or build new roads, and then charge tolls to travellers.

These were known as Turnpike Trusts, the ‘turnpike’ being the long pole across the road which was lifted when the toll was paid.

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From 1767, mileposts were made compulsory on all turnpiked roads, and it is calculated that there were 20,000 miles of roads with milestones.

Milestone size and design varied with each Trust, and here in Huntingdonshire there is a rich heritage along our roads. Probably the most important is the large rectangular stone post at Alconbury Hill alongside the A1. This stone marked the junction of the Old North Road (from London via Royston) and the Great North Road (from London via Hatfield) on the route north to York.

The Great Ouse Valley Trust works to protect the environment in Cambridgeshire. (Image: Michael Humphrey)

At the Tesco Express roundabout at St Ives, an elegant stone obelisk with gloved hands points directions and distances; one way to Chatteris and March, the other to Earith and Ely.

The Earith to Chatteris Turnpike Trust had begun in 1727, and one of its first investments was to build a road from St Ives to Somersham across the Heath.

This very straight road (B1040/B1086) has a similar obelisk at Somersham, just past the Windmill restaurant at the junction of the B1089. The Godmanchester to Newmarket Heath Trust put triangular cast-iron mileposts along what is now the A1307.

Whereas the Bury to Stratton Trust placed small stone milestones along the road from Bury through St Ives to Biggleswade.

The Turnpike Trusts wound up soon after railways became established. County and rural district councils were given responsibility for roads in 1888.

With the development of faster motorised traffic, the need for milestones waned. The Milestone Society estimate there are around 9,000 surviving milestones and mileposts today, most of them Listed by Historic England.

The Great Ouse Valley Trust promotes for public benefit the conservation, restoration and enjoyment of the landscape, wildlife and heritage of the Great