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MHG58265 - Milestone - Balblair

Summary

A milestone at Balblair.

Type and Period (1)

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Full Description

A milestone at Balblair.

In 2014 ARCH provided a number of courses, field trips and other activities exploring and researching the remains of the 19th century engineer, road and church builder Thomas Telford. A project was undertaken in Kyle of Sutherland, during which many sites were visited and photographed by participants. The milestones on the north side of the Dornoch Firth are of concrete, and, with one exception, without any inscriptions. They are the distinctive shape found in the Highlands, with a V-shape profile in front, curved in a semicircle on the back, and bevelled on the top to create an extra face. Milestones were erected when Telford built the road network in the area in the early 1800s, but these were of stone and commissioned by the county of Sutherland. Minutes from the Sutherland roads committee from 1818 speak of erecting milestones from Bonar Bridge to Ord Hill, sourcing stone from Embo quarry; milestones were estimated to cost 10 shillings and 6 pence each, including quarrying lettering and painting. The surviving milestones are of concrete, and therefore obviously later. Locations of milestones are recorded on the 1st and 2nd edition OS maps, as well as the modern Explorer series; however, the current locations are often in a different location from the 1st and 2nd edition locations, suggesting a renumbering occurred at some point with a different starting point. A number of the examples on the modern Explorer series also do not survive. This milestone shows no sign of metal rods which are on some of the examples between Bonar Bridge and Clashmore and on the example near Invershin. On the 1st and 2nd edition OS maps it is located at NH 59145 93988. <1>

GIS spatial data derived in 2018 from OS MasterMap. <2>

Sources/Archives (2)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NH 5909 9403 (6m by 6m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NH59SE
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	CREICH

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