October 2015

Take-on and take-off stones

A take-on stone is a stone instructing a coachman to add an extra horse or horses to a conveyance in order to help pull the coach up a steep hill.  A take-off stone, conversely, is an instruction to unhitch the horse(s).  Such stones are few.

There are supposed to be three such stones surviving on Mortimer Road, on the moors above Bradfield, near Sheffield.  This road leads from Penistone to Grindleford in the Derbyshire Peak District.  Turnpiked from earlier packhorse routes, it was a financial failure, and its fascinating story is told in a book by Howard Smith (1993).  Its route is also traced on the Stocksbridge and District History Society website.

The take-off stone illustrated here is at the top of the hill just north of the Strines Inn, near the end of the West Riding stretch of the road.

Another such stone can be seen on a bridge near Haworth, with the words “Hang on”.  See the picture from Geograph here.

These stones are also known, at least to the Milestone Society, as “horse stones”, and the horses themselves are also called “cock horses”.  This term has applied to the children’s toy from as long ago as Tudor times, while the Banbury Cross nursery rhyme dates to the 18th century.  Its use in our context, however, is more recent: the OED has its earliest usage as comparatively recently as the late 19th century.  A quotation from The Field  of 25th July 1891 reads “With no further use for the cock horse, we cast him off at the top of the hill”.

RWH / Oct 2015, rev June 2024

Take-on and take-off stones Read More »

Beverley Sanctuary Stones

The concept of sanctuary, as a place where fugitives can be immune from arrest, dates back to the Bible (cf Numbers, 35), and was recognised in English law until abolished by James I in the 17th century.  It was a way to protect people from the vagaries of mob justice.  All churches could offer sanctuary within the actual church building, but there were over 20 churches in mediaeval England (including Beverley, Ripon and York in Yorkshire) which were able to provide a wider area of sanctuary.

In Beverley sanctuary began approximately two miles from the Minster.  If a pursuer caught his quarry within this area he had to pay a fine to the church authorities.  To denote the area sanctuary stones were set up on four of the main approaches to the town – these were tall columns with richly carved crosses – and there were other crosses nearer the Minster at points where fines increased.

Three of the outermost sanctuary crosses survive, though much defaced and without their tops, probably occasioned by post-Reformation zeal.

One is on the A164 road from Hessle and the Humber, just south of its intersection with the A1079.  This would have been the main route from Lincoln and the south.  On a square base, the column is 21/2 feet tall and 18 inches thick.  It can be clearly seen, having been rescued from vegetation during construction of the by-pass.

Moving clockwise the next is at Walkington on the route from Howden and the south-west.  Similar in size to the Hessle cross, this (illustrated) is on the left just past the traffic-lights coming from Beverley.

The third surviving stone is at Killingwoldgraves near Bishop Burton on the road to York (the A1174) just before the by-pass (again coming from Beverley).  Better preserved and taller than the other two, with some decorative features surviving, this is slightly away from the road and on a higher vantage point, perhaps to make it more visible (unless, of course, it has been moved).

The fourth, missing stone was on the road to Driffield and the north, the A164.  It is possible that it was lost during the construction of the now disused railway line to Market Weighton.

One sanctuary stone survives of the eight that originally surrounded St Wilfrid’s Monastery (founded 672 AD) in Ripon: Sharow Cross, now cared for by the National Trust, probably dates from the 13th century.  On Dishforth Road at Sharow, just off the A61 on the other side of the River Ure from Ripon itself, it is at SE 3235 7198.  Ripon Cathedral now stands where the original monastery was established.

Sources: Martyn Kirby: Sanctuary: Beverley – a town of refuge (updated ed, 200?); for Sharow Cross: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1149835

RWH / rev August 2020

Beverley Sanctuary Stones Read More »

The Stone Chair

 

In the village of Shelf, on the A6036 between Halifax and Bradford in West Yorkshire, is an area called Stone Chair.  And on an older line of the road, originally the Wibsey Bankfoot and Lidget Branch Turnpike, just north of the Stone Chair roundabout, sits the stone chair that gave its name to the area.

The present structure, a Grade II listed monument, dates from 1891.  It consists of two large upright stone slabs set at right-angles to each other, and joined at the top by an iron strap.  Between the two is a large triangular stone block which acts as a seat – hence the name.

The original stone chair, however, was erected in 1737.  This date would suggest it was put up following directions from the county Justices to local township surveyors to erect stoops to assist travellers at cross-ways – instructions most recently repeated in 1733.

The highways surveyor for the Shelf township at the time of its erection was William Clayton, a blacksmith who also seems to have been the publican of the Duke of York Inn, across the road from the site of the stone chair.  His yearly accounts survive, which record that “a gide erecting and seting up” cost 4s-6d, and “aile when stone was sett up” was 1s-6d.  Clayton died in 1766 and was buried in nearby Coley Church.

The first edition Ordnance Survey 6″ map (published 1854) shows what it calls a milestone, giving the following destinations and distances: Huddersfield 6, Keighley 8, Halifax 2 and Bradford 4.  These are not statute miles but the longer traditional miles, which are usually found on guide-stoops of the period – unlike the miles shown on actual milestones.

In the 1820s, however, the new line of the turnpike had been constructed, and the stone chair had lost its original purpose – whatever that was: possibly a resting-place for people (or, at least, one person) waiting for stage-coaches or other transport – and by the 1880s it had fallen apart, or even been destroyed.

In 1890 local antiquarian and writer Harry Speight claimed to have unearthed one of the stone slabs of the original chair from beneath a heap of rubbish on its original site; its inscription had been defaced. From Speight’s description and illustration of the original chair (and there is no other source to confirm its original appearance) a new one was erected in 1891, with new stone slabs.  The destinations differ from those on the OS map: Bradford and Halifax remain, but Keighley and Huddersfield have been replaced by the nearer Denholme Gate and Brighouse.  Speight’s defaced 1737 slab is probably the one now built into the wall of the house next to the chair: it can be seen in the lower photograph.

Source: article by Ben Stables in the Milestone Society Newsletter (no 29, July 2015, pp 35-36)

RWH/Oct 2015

The Stone Chair Read More »

Manchester 19, overlooking Woodhead Reservoir

Milestones on an old saltway to South Yorkshire

Manchester 19, overlooking Woodhead Reservoir

Salt had many uses in mediaeval times (and earlier) but was most valuable as a food preservative.  The main source of salt for inland areas of the north was Cheshire – the so-called “Cheshire wiches” of Middlewich, Nantwich and Northwich.  The saltways along which this vital commodity was carried can be traced in many street and area names still found today: Salters Ford, Saltergate, Salter Hill, etc.  Even Psalters Lane in Rotherham is derived from the salt route rather than any monastic connection.

One route entered the West Riding (South Yorkshire) via Stockport and the Longdendale Valley at the appropriately-named Salter’s Brook Bridge, the boundary between Yorkshire and Cheshire (though now Derbyshire), near Woodhead.  This road was turnpiked by the Doncaster and Salter’s Brook Trust in 1740, connecting with the slightly earlier Manchester and Salter’s Brook Turnpike.  In 1828, in the second wave of “turnpike mania” this route was replaced by a new one, easing the gradients, and running sometimes north, sometimes south of the old saltway.  This road is the present A628, but the old route between Woodhead and the now demolished Flouch Inn can be easily traced on an Ordnance Survey map.  A mile or so beyond the Flouch the turnpike continued past Barnsley to Doncaster, while another branch of the old saltway headed right for Rotherham.

Many old milestones survive on both routes: the new road was never provided with the Brayshaw and Booth stones set up shortly after the County Council took over responsibility for highways in the 1890s. The milestones on the old route are especially interesting.  Starting just over the boundary in Cheshire one can be found built into a wall overlooking Woodhead Reservoir (grid ref SE 1055 0005): this gives the miles to Manchester (19) – top picture.  The next milestone, the last in Cheshire/Derbyshire, is missing.

Many of those on the Yorkshire side, however, survive, and have been traced by David Hey.  These quote the number of miles to Rotherham, which are given in Roman numerals – though the actual destination is not usually named.  The first, very close to the county boundary, is badly eroded, but reads “Wortley XII Miles Rotherham XXI Miles”.  The next, 20 (XX) miles to Rotherham, the second picture (right) is at SE 1550 0005, south of the A628 at Fiddlers Green.

The picture at the bottom shows the later Doncaster turnpike milestone on a disused stretch of the A628 just west of the Flouch (as was).

The Rotherham branch was turnpiked at the same time as the Doncaster road – hence the milestones – but was not financially successful, particularly after the construction of the Halifax to Sheffield Turnpike (the present A629) in 1777 and today remains as a number of apparently unconnected minor roads.

There are a number of other interesting features on the old road, including some Manchester Corporation Waterworks boundary stones, and the mediaeval Lady Cross.  This marks the eastern boundary of the manor of Glossop, but would also have served as a route marker.  The Lady Cross, the Rotherham 21 milestone, and a number of other stones in the region are marked with the letters IWB – some graffiti by Isaac Watt Boulton.  Boulton (1823-1899), an engineer and industrialist from Ashton (and related to the famous Matthew Boulton of Birmingham) was a keen rambler and campaigned for public access to ancient paths in the Peak District.

Sources: David Hey: talk to the Milestone Society AGM, 2007, and his Packmen, carriers and packhorse roads, 2nd ed (Landmark Pub, 2004); Stocksbridge and District History Society website, and an article by W E Spencer in their newsletter, Paragon, no 12, summer 1998, also available online; Fell Runners Association forum; Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History.

RWH/rev June 2020

Milestones on an old saltway to South Yorkshire Read More »