From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
MILESTONES: SILENT WITNESS TO OUR TRANSPORT HISTORY: Although the earliest milestones in Britain date back to Roman times, milestones here are of a more recent variety, generally dating back to around the turn of the 19th century. It was the development of the mail service and the arrival of the Turnpike Toll-Roads between 1729 and 1858 which gave the first significant impetus to mark distances on Irish roads. By contemporary Act of Parliament it was required that the trustees of roads were required "to examine all the milestones and cause same to be fresh painted and renewed where necessary".
Perhaps the most famous milestones in Ireland were those erected as a result of the improvement of the London to Holyhead road by the famous engineer, Thomas Telford. Telford, the son of a shepherd, was born in 1757, and earned his reputation as a bridge builder and road engineer. His first major work was a three-arched stone bridge across the River Severn at Shrewsbury, completed in 1792. His bridge designs were to culminate in the famous suspension bridge which he constructed to connect Anglesey with the mainland as part of the Holyhead Improvement Scheme.
In 1808 the Post Office attempted unsuccessfully to run a mail coach between Holyhead and Shrewsbury. As a result it was decided to improve communication between London and Dublin by way of Holyhead, and in May 1810 Telford was commissioned to survey the route. A Board of Parliamentary Commissioners was set up to study his report and the following year a sum of £20,000 was made available for the improvements. The resulting road was the first national road to be constructed in either Britain or Ireland.
Telford lined his road with milestones built to his own design. And because the harbour at Howth was developed to accommodate the mailboat (although this was switched to Kingstown - now Dún Laoghaire) his milestones were continued on this side of the Irish Sea as far as the General Post Office in Dublin. Significantly, these milestones were marked in Statute or "English" miles rather than "Irish" miles. Previously the two differing mile measurements had been in use concurrently - the Irish mile measuring 2,240 yards, some 480 yards more than its English equivalent.
Several of Telford's milestones are still in place today along the Dublin to Howth road and their general design was copied on several other roads, a good example being the Dublin to Malahide road where several examples are also still visible.
Undoubtedly, there are many varied milestones still extant all over the country and as far as I have been able to establish, no unified survey of their whereabouts and condition has ever been undertaken.
The Royal Irish Automobile Club Archive has decided to undertake such a survey and is seeking information on milestones in every area of this island. If you wish to participate with details of milestones in your area, please forward a photograph of the milestone(s) together with precise details of the location (please include road number - e.g., N22), the wording and any other marks which appear on it and a note of its general condition. The archive intends to publish the results of its survey when sufficient data has been accumulated. Send your material to: Milestone Survey, The Royal Irish Automobile Club Archive, 34 Dawson Street, Dublin 2.
This is an important piece of our motoring history which deserves to be recorded and I suspect we may be surprised by the variety and number of the milestones recorded.