Building record 1344300000 - Milepost on A404

Grade II. Milepost. Probable eighteenth to nineteenth century. Painted cast iron. Triangular base chamfered to a gable top inscribed 'Hatfield 20' in raised Clarenden style lettering & numerals. Base inscribed in similar style; left hand 'Amersham 4 Reading 30' with a projecting Lug to accommodate the first 'A'; right hand 'Rickmansworth 4'. The milepost is situated on the old Hatfield to Reading Turnpike Road (B1).
On A404 in good condition: 6mm metal, some splitting. Description as above. [Drawings, location and photographs] (B2).
Recorded as present in 2002 on Rickmansworth to Amersham route National ID number BU_RGHT30. On Amersham Road opposite lane to Great House Farm south of Chenies Village. On south side of road, 44cm wide, 24cm deep, 120cm high. Inscription: right: AMERSHAM 4 READING 30 : left: RICKMANS-WORTH 4 : top: HATFIELD 20. [Detailed description, location and photograph] (B3).
Shown on 1835 1-inch OS map (sheet XLIII). Inscription: Amersham 4 : Rickmansworth 4. On Marlow to Stokenchurch route. Hatfield and Chenies to Henley - 'Gout Track'. Metal milepost number 4 on 1835 1-inch OS map. Inscription as above, in good condition (B4).
According to Peter Gullands extensive study on The Toll Roads of Buckinghamshire 1706-1881 with their connections into neighbouring counties 2017. .This is onThe Reading and Hatfield Turnpike Trust 1767 road 13 p.175. Original milestones were thin stones with domed top curved with flat faces. 5 survive 2 of which survive as gateposts in Flackwell Heath and 2 in a drive at Terriers and one from Little Chalfont now in Chilterns Open Air Museum. With incised lower case lettering they predate the creation of the Trust in 1767. They were replaced by 50 stones in 1770. These in turn were replaced by 50 cast iron mileposts by Wilder and Sons of Reading, which date from early 19th century 3 mileposts survive in Bucks. Hatfield at top as patron of 'gout route' originally sponsored by Lord Cecil who lived at Hatfield House. Of a total of 230 possible milemarkers in Bucks 116 survive.in modern records.The name 'gout route' doesn’t appear in older literature so the folk connection with the route to Bath may not be true according to PG. During WW2 milemarkers were removed for security reasons and sometimes not put back or in wrong place or at wrong angle. After the trusts closed in 1880s or 1890s Buucs replaced missing or damaged milemarkers with a standardised metal post on some roads which the Milestones Society calls Bucks Pressings two white faces with black lettering. [Copy in HER].(B5).