About The Essex Milestone Map


The Base Map

Two maps stood out as having sufficient accuracy and sufficient coverage of milestone locations to be used as the basis of the new map: Chapman and Andre's 1777 Essex map, and the 19th century 1st edition 1" OS maps. Either would have done well. I chose to work from the David and Charles reprint of the 1st edition 1" (1838-1844), mainly because it represents the turnpike system at its fullest extent, but also for the greater convenience of scanning folded sheets rather than the heavier flat sheets of Chapman and Andre. The alternative of copying photographically would have lost the accuracy inherent in the scanning process.

How It Was Done

I started with a grid corresponding to the 10-km OS national grid squares for Essex, marked by the blue cross-hairs. This was the space in which to fit 30 or so map segments, each derived from an A4 scan of a part of the base map. The difficulty was to place these segments accurately on the grid, especially since the exact orientation of the scans couldn't be relied on. The solution was to fix the position of a few key features (such as road intersections) by means of crosses on the grid, from their modern map references. Then it was only necessary to position each segment so that the features overlaid their corresponding crosses, hopefully linking up roads from neighbouring segments at the same time. The crosses, intended only as draughting aids, were removed afterwards so that they don't appear on the final map. I've aimed to get all features on the finished map within 0.1 mile of their true positions.

Symbols For The Mile Markers

Colour is used to differentiate between surviving and lost markers; survivors have a red body colour and lost ones are in black and white only. Surviving milestones are shown as red-filled circles and posts as red-filled squares. The few survivors which have been moved (eg to a museum) are shown in their original positions as red-filled triangles. Where markers have not survived, we often don't know whether they were milestones or posts, so symbols are used differently. Lost markers of either sort which are present on the base 1" map appear as black squares filled with white, lost markers from later maps (eg the 1st edition 6" map) as black circles filled with white, and those from earlier maps (eg Chapman and Andre) as black crosses.

Priorities

As you might hope, a mile marker often appears in the same position on more than one map, so a choice may need to be made as to which symbol to use. Obviously, a survivor will always be shown as such, but for lost markers, I chose the following order of priority:-
    If on the base (1st edition 1" OS) map, it's shown as such.
    Otherwise if on an earlier map, it's shown as that.
    Otherwise (if only on a later one), it's shown as that.


One Milestone Or Two?

Confusion can arise when the positions of mile markers differ from one map to another. In some cases this may arise from inaccuracies in the map-making process, in others because of actual resiting of the stones due to road changes. I have chosen to show only a single mile marker if I can place it within about 0.2 mile of all available source positions. Any which are further away than this I show separately, though it should be realised that this commonly represents a single stone which was moved rather than two (see for instance on the route to Harwich). An unusual situation can be seen on the road through Roxwell where two coexisting sets of stones interleaved, presenting mileages from opposite directions.

Destinations

Another difference between source maps is sometimes the mile number associated with a given mile marker: one map may present miles to one destination and another to another. As I chose the 1st edition 1" as my base map, I have also stayed with its choices here. Any place names which are referenced by the mileages, or are at the end of a route, are considered destinations and are given the accolade of upper-case lettering and a ring round the town.

Isolated Mile Markers

A few mile markers exist in splendid isolation and can't be clearly ascribed to a known turnpike or other route, for instance some in the area south of Brentwood. Only as much of the road as is certain is then shown, usually up to the first main junction in each direction. One probably in a category of its own was that, not on a road at all but in the middle of Thorndon Park near Brentwood, marking the distance to London as 19½ miles.

Toll Gates

A toll gate is shown on the 1st edition 1" map as an almost indistinguishable line across the road, which by itself indicates any gate, but with the clearer label 'T.G.' adjacent to it. Other maps may show it as 'Turnpike'. I have marked toll gates on the new map by green bars across the road, each with a short identifier. As they are not given names on the source maps, I have identified each for reference purposes from a nearby place name. If documents surface in the future which give an authentic contemporary name, the intention would be to use that instead. I have not included side gates, which were sometimes added where back roads might otherwise allow the main gates to be bypassed.

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