Publications about milestones and related topics
Mervyn Benford: Milestones (Shire Publications Ltd., Princes Risborough; 2002); 48pp, ISBN 0 7478 0526 1. Price £4.99
Carol Haines: Marking the Miles, A History of English Milestones (self-published; 2000); 188pp, ISBN 0-9538885-0-9. Price £12.
Alan Rosevear: Milestones and Toll Houses on Old Turnpike Roads (self-published); 23pp. Price £2.60. This is part of a series of monographs on roads across the Upper Thames Valley - further details are available from the author (e-mail: Rosevear1@aol.com).
Howard Smith: The Guide Stoops of the Dark Peak (self-published; 2000); 80pp, ISBN 0-9521541-3-7. Price £5.
Howard Smith: The Guide Stoops of Derbyshire (self-published; 2000); 109pp, ISBN 0-9521541-4-5. Price £6.99
Ian Thompson, Cornish Milestones, the development of Cornwall’s roads in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (Twelveheads Press) 184pp, £18.50 (Order on line from www.twelveheads.com post free).
Jamie Quartermaine, Barrie Trinder, and Rick Turner: Thomas Telford's Holyhead Road - The A5 in north Wales (CBA Research Report 135) (Council for British Archaeology; 2003); 182pp, ISBN 1-902771-34-6. Price £19.95.
Stuart Slack: Manx Milestones (The Manx Experience, Onchan, Isle of Man IM3 3BW, 2003); ISBN 1 873 120 583. Price £7.99
Richard K Morriss: The Archaeology of Roads (Tempus Pub. 2005); 304 pp, ISBN: 075242887X. Price £19.99.
David Viner: Discover Dorset - Roads, Tracks & Turnpikes (Dovecote Press, 2007); 80 pp, ISBN: 9781904349143. Price £4.95.
Andrew Emmerson & Peter Bancroft: A, B, C and M: Road Numbering Revealed (Capital History, 2007); 94 pp, ISBN: 9781854143075. Price £7.95.
Worcestershire Group of the Milestone Society: Finding Worcestershire Milestones (Milestone Society, 2007); 32 pp, ISBN: 9780955753800. Price £3.50.
William Albert: The Turnpike Road System in England 1663-1840 (CUP, repr.2006, first pub. 1972); 300 pp, ISBN: 9780521033916. Price £27.99.
Mary-Ann Ochota: Hidden Histories, A Spotter's Guide to the British Landscape [including milestones!]
Hardback or Paperback, 288 pages. ISBN 978-0-7112-3692-9 Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Mary-Ann Ochota: Secret Britain, Unearthing our Mysterious Past
Hardback, 240 Pages ISBN: 9780711253469 Publisher : Frances Lincoln
A Review of The Resort of All Amorous Couples – Thomas Telford’s Toll-house at Alison’s Bank, Gretna
By V.E.Weighill Published 2021 ISBN 978-I-80049-000-0
The tollhouse at Alison’s Bank, Gretna, long preceded the Old Blacksmith’s Forge in solumnising matrimony for those fleeing from England, where ‘clandestine’ marriages had been outlawed in 1753. Built in 1820 to Telford’s design, the tollhouse was the first house north of the border, the River Sark, on his Glasgow - Carlisle road. The marriage trade became a very lucrative business for the tollkeepers and their families, rivalling the area’s past illicit smuggling activities.
Working from original sources, the author traces in meticulously-researched detail the occupants, the owners and some of the thousands of the mostly working-class grooms with their intended brides. The fascinating story of the tollhouse also reflects the social and economic upheavals of Britain over more than 200 years.
The volume of 192 pages is copiously illustrated with maps, estate plans and photographs past and present. It is available from the author price £12.50 (£11.50 to Milestone Society members) + £2 p&p; email valerieweighill@yahoo.co.uk. Or pick up a copy from the tollhouse café!
Reviewed by Jan Scrine