Borin Van Loon: Ipswich Historical Lettering: Mileposts

Mileposts

Two cast iron mileposts in Woodbridge Road. The one on the left was sited outside the Milestone public house at nos. 3-5 (formerly The Mulberry Tree) on the corner with St Margarets Street. 'IPSWICH TO LONDON 69; YARMOUTH 54; WOODBRIDGE 7; St.MARG't P.*; COLCHESTER 18' (*refers to St. Margaret's Parish). In 2003 the management built a decorative wall around the perimeter of the property to exclude the cars which used to park there and create a seating area. In doing so, they had to move the milepost and have since resited it against the wall of the pub (somewhat obscured by the picnic tables). We wonder if they needed planning permission for this; these milestone are listed objects, so we are informed by Ed Broom (his Freston.net site is on the Links page.), who consulted the Ipswich Borough Council website to check [October, 2004].

The milepost on the right is only a mile further up the road sited outside 325 Woodbridge Road, opposite St Mary's Church Hall and the former Convent. It was placed on Albion Hill by The Ipswich To South Town Turnpike Trust. It gives rather more information:
'IPSWICH TO LONDON: 70.
J.GARRETT. IRON-FOUNDER. (ST. MARGARET'S. IPSWICH**) 1818
YARMOUTH 53; WOODBRIDGE 6; St. MARG't. P(.**); COLCHESTER 19'
(** not picked out in black paint at the time of the photograph, but repainted, somewhat clumsily - the date is now unreadable under the paint- August, 2003).

We can now confirm** that J. Garrett is a member of the famous Leiston ironfoundry family, brother of Richard Garrett who founded it. Jacob Garrett started business in Ipswich as a whitesmith (one who works with tinplate), coachbuilder and bell-hanger. In 1802 he set up an iron foundry earlier occupied by John Cobbold the renowned brewer) at the corner of St Margaret's Green and Cobbold Street. In 1803 he was advertising for 'old cast iron' urgently needed 'to execute an unusual order for the Government'. J. Garrett's foundry in St Margaret's parish, Ipswich produced these and many other Suffolk mileposts including those for the Little Yarmouth Turnpike and those from Darsham to Bungay. The same ironfounder's details are to be found on the rather more neglected milepost (below left) outside 140 London Road, not far from the Handford Road junction. But this one is dated 1831.Now a residential street, this once served as the main Turnpike route into the centre of the town from the western approaches: a function now fulfilled by Handford Road.
'IPSWICH TO LONDON: 68
J.GARRETT. IRON-FOUNDER. (ST. MARGARET'S. IPSWICH) 1818
IPSWICH 1; WOODBRIDGE 8; COLCHESTER 17; CHELMSFORD 39'
This largely forgotten post shows the rime of rust from years of neglect , but is still readable.

Above right is another milepost on London Road, this time on the far busier arterial route towards the Colchester and the capital. It stands near to the top of Crane Hill, close to the entrance to Chantry Park and the photograph had to be taken while standing in the bus lane with traffic roaring past. While it appears to be identical to the other posts shown above, the ironfounder's mark on the central triangle here is: 'E.R. & F. TURNER 1862', although it is not picked out in black paint.
'SPROUGHTON TO LONDON: 67
IPSWICH 2; WOODBRIDGE 9; COLCHESTER 16 CHELMSFORD 38'
Although it has been restored and repainted recently, this milepost is in urgent need of rebedding and returning to its upright position.

Below left is the milepost on the junction of Chevallier Street and Norwich Road. Like the Chantry Park example, it has been restored recently. Standing on the grassed area under trees on the corner opposite the Inkerman pub, this strikes one as being of an earlier vintage: smaller in stature, bearing smaller characters with less information and feeling the need to spell out 'miles':
'ST MATTHEW'S PARISH
BURY 25 MILES; IPSWICH 1 MILE'

Above right is Ipswich's most flamoyant milepost. Its flaring top distinguishes it from the others, but it still bears the same ironfounder's mark and date: 'J.GARRETT. IRON-FOUNDER. (ST. MARGARET'S. IPSWICH) 1818', but for some reason the physical shape of the cast has been altered, either that, or the shape was similar to the others and some defect caused the foundry to cut away the shoulders:
'RUSHMERE TO LONDON: 71
YARMOUTH 52; WOODBRIDGE 5; IPSWICH 2; COLCHESTER 20'

There just remains the genuine milestone on Norwich Road, which doesn't bear any lettering, but might have borne a metal plate with mileage details at some time. There is a picture of it on the scholarly Suffolk Milestones website listed on our Links page. Ipswich, the county town of Suffolk, has retained all seven milesposts (plus one milestone) within the town boundaries. All but one still stand on the arterial roads into the town as they did in the days of the Turnpike Trusts. Two stand on Norwich Road, which was part of the first Suffolk Turnpike in 1711 for the roads between Ipswich and Scole. Three are on Woodbridge Road and two on London Road. By comparison, Lowestoft has retained none of its milestones. This could have been due to the ravages of time, road 'improvements', vandalism, or just the Government's edict in the early years of the Second World War that milestones should be removed/ defaced to confuse the invading Bosch. The shapes, styles and materials of these forgotten roadside markers are fascinating. They deserve restoration and recognition. Thank goodness that there is a Milestone Society (clearly linked on the above mentioned site) and that Suffolk's waymarkers are so well surveyed and reviewed in the same place.

[**Information on Jacob Garrett from Malster, R. See Reading List.]

Home
Copyright throughout this site belongs to Borin Van Loon, 2003.