A Sutton Milestone - Making Up The Set!

I was in Sutton for some of this week, and took the opportunity to have another look at a High Street I must have been up and down a hundred times or so over the last twenty years. I wasn't really expecting to find much as I'd already covered the area for a previous Faded London entry so it was a bit of surprise to almost fall over a milestone on the corner of the paved area!

Sutton High Street - Doesn't look that promising but has a surprising number of interesting items throughout its length. The milestone looks a bit forlorn though...

It's not as though it's particularly hidden away but I think that whereas it was probably a fairly prominent and isolated item in the good old days, in these modern times it's just another item to be swerved around on a busy Saturday. It's in pretty good condition though and the inscription is as clear as you could possibly expect. What made it more interesting though was the fact that

Whitehall and the Royal Exchange

this milestone is only one in a short string of surviving stones that actually seem to be set up at pretty much mile intervals! I had inadvertently found the one preceding it as well as the one after it on the road to Rose Hill and had featured them both in an earlier posting. I had it in my head that this particular road - straight through the centre of Sutton - might well have been a key military route down to the Navy in Portsmouth. A quick check provided a link to BBC Hampshire's article on the route and it seemed the route was actually slightly further to the north. Of course the answer as to where the road actually went was pretty obvious when you consider that the first milestone was on the Brighton Road, not the Portsmouth Road...


So Brighton it is then, but why would the Brighton Road require so many milestones?

Another quick search revealed a possible answer on the Bobulous website in an article on the history of Sutton

In 1755, a turnpike road from London to Brighton was constructed, intersecting with a turnpike road from Carshalton to Ewell which was constructed at the same time. The toll bars for Cheam Road and Brighton Road were originally located at right angles to each other by the Cock Hotel, an inn that sat on the south-east corner of the intersection of the turnpikes. The toll bar for Carshalton Road was where the police station is now, though the existence of this toll bar is disputed. All three of these toll bars moved further away from the intersection after a number of years to account for the growth in Sutton's size. The northmost toll bar was situated where Rosehill is now. The toll bars remained in effect until 1882.

There's an interesting and comprehensive book called "The Brighton Road" by Charles George Harper published in 1922 which actually mentions and describes my earlier milestone on the Brighton Road, along with Belmont's previous nickname of 'Little Hell'! (this canny link to the book will let you read at your pleasure)




 It's an interesting book with numerous accounts of Princes, Kings, Nobles and men of letters all eager to make it down to the fashionable resort on the South Coast (and of course as you can see from the note above even the inevitable pugilist turned landlord. 'Gentleman Jackson' owned the Cock coaching inn in Sutton and was a bit of a local celebrity). The toll roads were a good way of cashing in on this popularity and the coaches that plied the route remained the only viable method of transport until the advent of the railways, when they went into steep decline. In its heyday though, if you are important, eager to get back to the City or the Court and had paid top dollar - well I expect decent milestones was the bare minimum you'd expect and might account for their regularity.

It's interesting that although the tolls, the tollbooths, the coaches and even some of the old inns have all gone, the name of the road and the milestones are still tangible reminders of an important part of the Sutton's history.

Boundary Markers and Milestones

There's something about a boundary that makes you want to straddle it. I suppose it's a throwback to the 'half of me here, half of me there...' feelings of childhood so I always get a little frisson when I see a marker by the roadside. Of course what you really want to know is exactly what is being delineated - a parish, a borough or even a county. Of course if you're really lucky you might find something dividing two things that no longer exist but few of us are granted that privilege...

Here are a few local markers I've spotted over the last few weeks and then, because they have their own charm and unique appeal and accompany the boundary markers so well, an assemblage of my milestone posters, with the odd new one or two -

These first few are all parish boundary's around Morden. I assume it was important to maintain these boundaries for a number of reasons, not just which church you should go to. For a start the church used to collect a local tax or tithe. It would have been important to know in which parish something like a water mill fell (as below, for example). Secondly there would have been the issue of Poor Relief that was issued to the destitute of the parish. You wouldn't want them lingering in your neck of the woods if you could help it, and thirdly births deaths and marriages were organized by parish. As it was therefore important to know where the limits were there used to be annual processions known as 'Beating the Bounds' where choirboys were taken to these markers and given a beating to make sure they could remember where they were!

Canterbury Road, Morden SM4
This one sits as perky as you like down a suburban street that was constructed in the 1930's. Strange to think that this parish marker had already been sat there for 50 years!
I'm not sure if H. Knight was the parish councillor or the manufacturer.
Morden Hall Park SM4
Butting up to the banks of the Wandle , just behind the Snuff Mill the Mitcham Parish is still legible but you have a hard time making out Morden Parish on the other side. Still just about there though...
Morden Hall Park SM4
Not more than 15 yards away from the riverside marker is this example under a fine and expansive tree. Mitcham were obviously very keen to keep the poor of Morden off of their Poor Relief!
Cambridge Road KT1
This is an interesting example of a civil marker which also happens to be outside of Kingsmeadow Stadium, home of mighty AFC Wimbledon and the not-quite so mighty Kingstonian FC. There's even a Wimbledon supporter in the background for added local colour...
The boundary is between Malden & Coombe on the left and Kingston Upon Thames to the right. As it seems to be built into someone's front drive you could easily miss it.
Beverley Bridge, Kingston Vale (A3)
Bridges are always good places to stick a boundary marker and you get two for your money on the Beverly Bridge by Richmond Park. The top section shows the boundary between the Borough of Wandsworth on on side and the Borough of Malden & Coombe on the other. It just also happens to be where the London County Council met the Surrey County Council
Brighton Road Sutton
I found a string of milestones that I presume once ran along the main road down to Portsmouth or Southampton (or even Brighton?). This one was to the south of Sutton. Looks nice and clear, although it's a pity the number isn't clearer. XII possibly? I believe that the symbol at the bottom of the stone - the arrow under a line - was the sign of the War Office so it might tie in with some military function. The date looks nice and clear here ...


...but around the side is this inscription and date. Was it freshened up and re-engraved in 1892?
Rose Hill Sutton SM1
Just the other side of Sutton sits what must be one of the most pampered milestones around. They've given it its own park, flower-beds and railings.No mention of the Cornhill here nor any War Office markings. Instead were measuring our way to theRoyal Exchange and Whitehall.

Moeden Hall Road SM4 following on the same route as the two above, a couple of miles down the road is this remnant. Badly weathred and with no discernable markings sadly...
London Road SM4
About a mile away and on a convergant route, this milestone leans drunkenly to one side. Still nice an legible though.
And finally, up near London Bridge
Off Tooley Street The 'S' is for south but I haven't really cracked the mystery of the 'O & I' yet. We will though...