Milestone

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A cast iron milestone painted white with bas-relief edges and legends picked out in black. It is of V cross-section, with a raking triangular top, 48.5cms wide, with the three faces bearing locations and distances. The top cant reads "Hillsbro 3 1/4", the right hand face "Belfast 9 miles", and the left hand face "Lisburn 3/4 mile".

SETTING: Located in an urban
setting, at the side of the road, on the footpath against the boundary wall of Woodgrove Care Home on the Hillsborough Road just south of Lagan Valley Regional Hospital.

Historical information

Precise date of erecting not known but such mileposts in this locality are marked for the first time on the OS map of 1902, and may be taken to probably date from the 1860s.

References – Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS6/1/68/3 OS map 1902

Secondary Sources
1. W.A. McCutcheon, The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland (HMSO, Belfast, 1980), p 31, and plate 4.2 for a comparable example.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
C. Ornamentation

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
X. Local Interest
S. Authenticity
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

A good example of a mid-Victorian cast iron milepost, formerly plentiful but now rare. This particular milepost is typical of the many which once dotted the province's roads at regular intervals. Most have succumbed to road widening, traffic impacts or theft. Due to the variations in mileage, each post was a unique casting. The legend on its sides were configured to indicate the mileage to the next main settlement to be encountered by the road user. The factor determining their position was the whole-mile distance from Belfast (as measured from the former G.P.O. In Royal Avenue). The fact that the distances to the nearest settlements are shown not only in whole miles but also quarter mile divisions reflects the much slower modes of transport - on foot and by horse - in bygone days.