Building record 1548700000 - Guidepost at junction of Pound Lane, Cock Grove & Stoney Lane

DESCRIPTION:
The signpost stands in a rural location at Hawridge Common, close to a group of listed farm buildings at Bottom Farm. It comprises a timber upright with painted black and white bands, set at the top of which are three timber direction boards, each with a simplified curved 'hand' profile at the outer end. Each board carries a single local place-name in black, upper-case, raised lettering.
HISTORY:
Direction signs were being erected at crossroads by the C17, the earliest surviving example being Joseph lzod's post of 1699 in the Cotswolds. The number grew in the C18 and C19 with turnpiking and in the C20 with the growth in motoring. In 1903 responsibility for all traffic signs passed to local authorities. The Ministry of Transport set out a model for direction signs in 1921, modified in 1933 when black and white was specified for the supporting post.
ASSESSMENT:
Despite their reduction through decay and replacement as well as campaigns of modernization very large numbers of 'traditional' signposts survive from the period up to the mid C20. Examples chosen for listing are generally of early date and/or of relative complexity, incorporating numerous finger boards and often other embellishments such as finials carrying either the location of the sign or the name of the highway authority, or county. This particular example does not appear to be a particularly early example - the wooden finger boards in fact look to be recent replacements - and lacks complexity and decorative interest.
While not sufficiently distinctive to merit listing, the signpost undoubtedly contributes to the historic character of Hawridge Common (B1).