Jump to content

Lost Leeds & Liverpool Canal milepost rescued from railway saleroom auction


Ray T

Featured Posts

LOST LEEDS & LIVERPOOL CANAL MILEPOST RESCUED FROM RAILWAY SALEROOM AUCTION

 

One of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal’s heritage mileposts has been rescued from a railway memorabilia auction and restored to its rightful place on the towpath in East Lancashire, thanks to the eagled-eyed chairman of the Canal & River Trust’s North West Partnership.

Last year the Canal & River Trust charity, which cares for 2,000 miles of canals, launched an appeal to restore or replace all the missing and damaged mileposts along the 127 mile canal as part of the Leeds & Liverpool’s 200th birthday celebrations.

The Trust’s North West Partnership chairman, Bob Pointing, was involved in launching the EveryMileCounts bicentenary campaign but by complete coincidence came across the missing canal milepost while checking out the catalogue for a sale of railway antiques at a saleroom in Poynton, Cheshire.

He worked with the Trust’s legal team to get the item withdrawn from the sale and negotiated for it to be returned to its rightful owners, the Canal & River Trust.

And this month after being carefully restored and repainted by volunteers, the milepost has finally been returned to its original location on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal towpath at Church, near Accrington.

Bob Pointing said: “It was amazing stroke of luck to come across the milepost advertised in the sale catalogue. I’m a bit of a railway history bore and was intending to attend the auction in search of some old Furness railway items.

“I was so surprised when I saw one of OUR mileposts offered in the sale with a note suggesting it would make ‘a useful garden ornament’! Presumably it must have been stolen or mislaid at some point. Sadly it is too late to find out who the culprits are after all these years but we are just delighted to have the milepost restored to its rightful place alongside the canal.”

This particular milepost is significant because it marks the half way point of the trans-Pennine canal – the longest man-made waterway in England. Since the EveryMileCounts project started over a year ago, £5,770 has been donated by individuals and groups, and more than 100 volunteers have donated their time and expertise to painting and repair work, including damaged half and quarter mile posts.

The project has resulted in the restoration of 32 missing mileposts, 80 missing or damaged distance plates and over 100 missing half and quarter mile posts.

Although the canal is 200 years old, the original cast iron mile markers date back to the 1890s.  They were installed as a response to legislation introduced to regulate canal freight tolls - the Railway and Canal Rates, Tolls and Charges Order of 1893.  This prompted the whole of the canal to be re-surveyed and new mileposts, along with half and quarter mileposts, installed along the towpaths.

Over a century later and now gleaming in their new black and white paint, the milestones provide an attractive reference point for walkers, cyclists and boaters.

To find out more information about donating or volunteering with the Trust or to view a short film about the bicentenary celebrations, check out the Canal & River Trust website www.canalrivertrust.org.uk.

 

ENDS

 

For further media requests please contact:

Lynn Pegler 07783 686246 Email Lynn.pegler@canalrivertrust.org.uk

LL200 rescued milepost installed nr Accrington (2).jpg

Edited by Ray T
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good news!

I read that on the Macclesfield Canal the mile markers were removed as part of national security measures during WW2. Those markers are made of stone, they've now been replace, although two had gone missing.  Missing ones were replaced by new ones.

Wonder if the mileposts were removed on the L&L for the same reason? 

Edited by Jennifer McM
Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, Titus said:

Are you aware that there's a similar one on sale on ebay, it states that it is genuine

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Original-Cast-Canal-Iron-Mile-Stone-Marker-Liverpool-Leeds-/292114159121?hash=item44035c5611:g:-MwAAOSwsXFZFMVE

 

Dave

Being sold by "svenhuntandgather". So has Sven hunted and gathered this, or come by it by legitimate means?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Being sold by "svenhuntandgather". So has Sven hunted and gathered this, or come by it by legitimate means?

I've asked him how he got it/provenance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, mark99 said:

I've asked him how he got it/provenance.

It is not an original, but one of the batch made by IWA NE region about 15 to 20 years ago IIRC. The location for this one would have been over Foulridge Tunnel, close to the eastern end. The miles to Liverpool should be 82 miles, rather than adding the quarter mile, which should only be used on the distances to Leeds. The plates are also the wrong way round, when compared to the original 1894 mileposts, with the new batch al being like that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Ray T said:

Yes thank you. I have informed CRT.

Received a reply from Lynn Pegler today:

"Many thanks for letting us know about this, Ray.

I will pass on the details to the project officer.

Best regards

Lynn"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Pluto said:

It is not an original, but one of the batch made by IWA NE region about 15 to 20 years ago IIRC. The location for this one would have been over Foulridge Tunnel, close to the eastern end. The miles to Liverpool should be 82 miles, rather than adding the quarter mile, which should only be used on the distances to Leeds. The plates are also the wrong way round, when compared to the original 1894 mileposts, with the new batch al being like that.

Hi Ray Lynn passed on your email as I have been managing the milepost restoration.

Thank you for highlighting this! After becoming worried and looking into it we don’t believe it is original or it may have been tampered with. The distances on the plates don’t reflect the pattern of the original posts where Liverpool plates  always displayed a whole number and the Leeds plates had the ¼ marked. Also the distance seems to add up to 127 ½ instead of 127 ¼ also the bottom half is missing.

Many thanks for being so vigilant!

All the best

Alice Kay

Volunteering Development Coordinator (North West) 

Canal and River Trust

Trencherfield Mill, Heritage Way ,Wigan, WN3 4BN

Email: Alice.Kay@canalrivertrust.org.uk

Mobile: 07825 196 365

Telephone: 0303 040 4040

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.