The “finest view in England” decided to play hard to get on our trudge from Sutton Bank, and anything else worth photographing was equally uncooperative. So this posting is very much for the faithful. Those nerds who slow down for roadside trivia and feel a small thrill at a lump of iron with numbers on it. Mileposts. Always there, never thanked, quietly doing their job since the Romans set the tone in stone.
This example is cast iron and almost certainly the work of Mattison’s of Richmond1F MATTISON FOUNDERS OF MILEPOSTS. THE MILESTONE SOCIETY. Newsletter 22. January 2012. https://www.milestonesociety.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/NL22.pdf. The firm began in 1851, founded by William Mattison on land rented from the railway company at Leeming Bar. His son Francis joined in, and together they cast just about anything that would sit still long enough, from mill machinery to oven doors. In 1937 the business was taken over by John H Gill, and the name lived on. By 2012 it was still going as John H. Gill and Sons of Leeming Bar, agricultural engineers and proof that iron outlasts most things, including good ideas.
Mattison’s produced at least three milepost designs, around a hundred of which still linger in North Yorkshire, stubborn as ever. The earliest, as far as I can tell, are those with HD (Highway Dept.) on the bevel.
The early versions have raised hands at the top of each face, helpfully pointing the way. Or not. Somewhere between the drawing board and the foundry floor, something went awry. Either the instructions were wrong or someone worked from a mirror image mould. The result was hands pointing the wrong way for the road they were set on. This was quietly fixed by bolting new hands over the old ones, and if you look closely you can still see the evidence of this embarrassment. In a few cases the problem was solved with paint and optimism. Some posts of this type have nothing on the bevel at all, perhaps in the hope nobody would ask.
The most decorative of the three designs carries North Riding of Yorkshire on the top, complete with a Yorkshire rose. On each face, neat flighted arrows show the direction. If there is only one destination, the word MILES is cast in full. If there are two or three towns listed, MILES is dropped, presumably to save space and patience. The bevel carries the name of the UDC or RDC, because nothing says authority like an acronym cast in iron.
This milepost at the top of Sutton Bank appears to be the latest style. It is the widest at 55 centimetres, similar to the decorative type but without the hands, and with NRYCC on the bevel. The best detail is the treatment of “HELMSLEY”, set in a gentle curve rather than being shortened. A small act of generosity, really, allowing the name to stretch out and breathe while the view itself stubbornly refused to perform.
- 1F MATTISON FOUNDERS OF MILEPOSTS. THE MILESTONE SOCIETY. Newsletter 22. January 2012. https://www.milestonesociety.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/NL22.pdf
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