Just as hunting for milestones became a bit of a distraction from other activities on the walk itself, so completing the follow-up research on them has also taken me away from writing up the whole of the walk. However, I feel I have now reached, ahem, a milestone, with the research.
I've got to the point of being able to say something definitive about the original milestones from Thomas Telford's time, not just between Holyhead and Shrewsbury, but also a few in Southeast England and in Ireland. It was nice realising that the contemporary documentary sources allow them to be dated almost to the year: 1825-26 on Anglesey, 1826-27 the rest of the way to Shrewsbury, more specific than any modern lists. They are all Carboniferous Limestone from Red Wharf Bay, the same stone as the Menai Bridge: including, even, two milestones in St Albans. I'm confident enough now to start making representations to the various authorities to amend or update their records. I won't go into it all here: there's an article about it in the pipeline!
I'm making some progress. Historic England have amended their descriptions for the listed milestones in Shropshire to include the date of erection, and that they are limestone (not sandstone or granite, which some listings had previously said). More to come maybe.
ReplyDeleteMore progress! Historic England have now listed the two milestones in Shropshire previously (and unaccountably) missed out, in response to my proposals:
ReplyDeletehttps://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1462384
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1462386