Building record 1344400000 - Milepost on A404

Grade II. Milepost. Probable eighteenth to nineteenth century. Painted cast iron. Triangular base chamfered to a gable, top inscribed 'Hatfield 21' in raised clarenden lettering & numerals. Base inscribed in similar style; left hand 'Amersham 3, Reading 29' with a projecting tag to accommodate the first 'A'; right hand 'Rickmansworth 5'. The milepost is situated on the old Hatfield to Reading Turnpike Road. (B1).
Well maintained and particularly fine example of this type of milepost, on part of 'gout route'. [Drawings, location and photographs] (B2).
Recorded as present in 2002 on A404 Rickmansworth to Amersham route National ID number BU_RGHT29. On south side of Amersham Road in Little Chalfont at junction with Chessfield Park, east of Railway Station. On very wide grass verge'. 44cm wide, 26cm deep, 87cm high. Inscription: left: AMERSHAM 3 READING 29 : right: RICKMANS-WORTH 5 :top : HATFIELD 21 [By Milestones Society location and photograph] (B3).
Milepost 3 shown on 1835 OS 1-inch map (sheet XLIII). Inscription: Amersham 3 : Rickmansworth 5. On Amersham to Rickmansworth route. Hatfield, Chenies to Henley 'Gout Track'. Metal milepost in good condition, mileage as above. Mrs Smith reported in 1987 that an earlier hexagonal milestone was found in a field in Little Chalfont, 1/2 mile from Chalfont and Latimer station, by her father (surveyor when the road was being upgraded in 1930's). Mileages just visible 29 Reading 3 Amersham. Other inscription in between illegible. Iron pieces at side of stone perhaps for lifting. Lead piece on top. As much of the stone was squared off below ground as on top (B4).
According to Peter Gulland in The Toll Roads of Buckinghamshire 1706-1881 with their connections into neighbouring coounties 2017. This is on the Reading and Hatfield Turnpike Road p.175 road 13 originally they were thin stones with domed top with flat faces 5 survive 2 as gateposts in Flackwell Heath and two 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 Turnpike 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. The name 'gout route' doesn’t appear in older literature so the folk connection with the route to Bath may not be true acording to PG. [Copy in HER (B5)