Might something like this explain why the A361 Banbury to Chipping Norton distance gained an extra quarter at some time, though visible only on one post?
Mervyn
—–Original Message—–
From: robert caldicott
Subject: Re: A34 project
Derek
Very interesting!
The mention of “milemark” appears to tie in with the sites of the ‘gas lamp’ markers on old OS mapping, and in the cases of Bench Marks 177 to 181 inclusive, the Altitude recorded is exactly the same as that shown on the map (“BM”) alongside the milepost. Furthermore, examples of the surviving milepost castings have bench marks chiselled into their bases. Rather neat!
There are one or two mysteries (at least!). Bench Mark 183 – I have not been able to find a mapped marker 10 miles from Shipston and 1/4 mile from Stratford. This is a busy bit of map, close to Clopton Bridge, so maybe it just got omitted for space reasons. Secondly the addition of the 1/4mile on whole mile distances from Stratford did not appear on maps until after 1900. So, Bench Mark 177 was on a marker shown as 4 miles from Stratford on the 1884 1:2500, but 4¼ on 1901 and subsequent editions. I see your document has the 1/4 mile, although dating from 1850s
More to be discovered, I am sure!
Robert
On Tue, 6 May 2014, at 11:48, Derek Turner wrote:
Mervyn,
As the person who is collecting information for the Woodstock to Long Compton section of the A34, as was, I thought you might be interested in the attached abstract from the c.1850 OS 1st geodetic levelling of the Basingstoke to Coventry line, as it makes frequent mention of milestones; also toll houses and other interesting wayside features, Thus it provides a detailed description of the road in mid 19th century at or just past the peak of the turnpike era. Furthermore, given the understandable obsession of the OS surveyors with accuracy it’s often possible to check exactly how far apart successive milestones were. According to the esoteric measurement, the link, used by the surveyors they should be 8000 links apart. (I’m sure you and others know how long a link is; just in case it’s slipped your mind it is 0.020117m or abut 8 inches). I’ve only skimmed the details but it’s pretty clear that there was significant variation in the length of the miles between stones. The other useful information relates to the height above sea level, so that one can get an impression of the lie of the land.
I’ve included the Warwickshire stretch from Long Compton to Stratford as well in a separate file. An interesting feature of the Warwicks stretch is the change of nomenclature from milestone to milemark. The latter is not a term that I have come across before and I wonder whether it’s in anyway connected with the ‘gas lamp’ mile markers that Mike B and Robert Caldicott have been researching.
Unfortunately for our A34 project, the OS surveyors did not use the rest of the route for their levelling lines as far as I have been able to establish. South of Oxford they used the Henley Road, and from Stratford they turned east towards Warwick. The Southampton to Winchester road was surveyed in the second levelling in the 20th century. That abstract might produce a bit of interesting information about the road but, for pretty obvious reasons, the surveyors no longer used milestones for their benchmarks in the 20th century – and of course with the benefit of hindsight were ill-advised to have used them so extensively for the 1GL just at the time when the turnpike system was starting to crumble. I’ve also attached the relevant page from the benchmark people’s excellent database, which essentially repeats the information in the abstract but usefully adds what is still there. (Hover the mouse over the colour coding to find out what it means)
It seems to me that the 1GL abstract usefully complements your Ogilby, Inglis and Contour books information, adding another point in time. How we stitch it all together is a decision for later but I think there is a lot of promising material for the North Oxon section.
Measuring Milemarks !!
A discussion
Might something like this explain why the A361 Banbury to Chipping Norton
distance gained an extra quarter at some time, though visible only on one
post?
Mervyn
-----Original Message-----
From: robert caldicott
Subject: Re: A34 project
Derek
Very interesting! The mention of "milemark" appears to tie in with the
sites of the 'gas lamp' markers on old OS mapping, and in the cases of
Bench Marks 177 to 181 inclusive, the Altitude recorded is exactly the
same as that shown on the map ("BM") alongside the milepost.
Furthermore, examples of the surviving milepost castings have bench
marks chiselled into their bases. Rather neat!
There are one or two mysteries (at least!). Bench Mark 183 - I have not
been able to find a mapped marker 10 miles from Shipston and 1/4 mile
from Stratford. This is a busy bit of map, close to Clopton Bridge, so
maybe it just got omitted for space reasons. Secondly the addition of
the 1/4mile on whole mile distances from Stratford did not appear on
maps until after 1900. So, Bench Mark 177 was on a marker shown as 4
miles from Stratford on the 1884 1:2500, but 4¼ on 1901 and subsequent
editions. I see your document has the 1/4 mile, although dating from
1850s
More to be discovered, I am sure!
Robert
On Tue, 6 May 2014, at 11:48, Derek Turner wrote:
> Mervyn,
>
> As the person who is collecting information for the Woodstock to Long
> Compton section of the A34, as was, I thought you might be interested in
> the attached abstract from the c.1850 OS 1st geodetic levelling of the
> Basingstoke to Coventry line, as it makes frequent mention of milestones;
> also toll houses and other interesting wayside features, Thus it
> provides a detailed description of the road in mid 19th century at or
> just past the peak of the turnpike era. Furthermore, given the
> understandable obsession of the OS surveyors with accuracy it's often
> possible to check exactly how far apart successive milestones were.
> According to the esoteric measurement, the link, used by the surveyors
> they should be 8000 links apart. (I'm sure you and others know how long
> a link is; just in case it's slipped your mind it is 0.020117m or abut 8
> inches). I've only skimmed the details but it's pretty clear that there
> was significant variation in the length of the miles between stones. The
> other useful information relates to the height above sea level, so that
> one can get an impression of the lie of the land.
>
> I've included the Warwickshire stretch from Long Compton to Stratford as
> well in a separate file. An interesting feature of the Warwicks stretch
> is the change of nomenclature from milestone to milemark. The latter is
> not a term that I have come across before and I wonder whether it's in
> anyway connected with the 'gas lamp' mile markers that Mike B and Robert
> Caldicott have been researching.
>
> Unfortunately for our A34 project, the OS surveyors did not use the rest
> of the route for their levelling lines as far as I have been able to
> establish. South of Oxford they used the Henley Road, and from Stratford
> they turned east towards Warwick. The Southampton to Winchester road was
> surveyed in the second levelling in the 20th century. That abstract
> might produce a bit of interesting information about the road but, for
> pretty obvious reasons, the surveyors no longer used milestones for their
> benchmarks in the 20th century - and of course with the benefit of
> hindsight were ill-advised to have used them so extensively for the 1GL
> just at the time when the turnpike system was starting to crumble. I've
> also attached the relevant page from the benchmark people's excellent
> database, which essentially repeats the information in the abstract but
> usefully adds what is still there. (Hover the mouse over the colour
> coding to find out what it means)
>
> It seems to me that the 1GL abstract usefully complements your Ogilby,
> Inglis and Contour books information, adding another point in time. How
> we stitch it all together is a decision for later but I think there is a
> lot of promising material for the North oxon section.
>