I've often wondered about the history of the ancient milestones in the neighbourhood - I think I've referred to them as Roman milestones, but when you look at them, they are clearly not Roman. So I went to the internet to see what I could find.
My research was inconclusive - or rather, I ran out of energy before finding the right answer. Needless to say, based on my not-so-extensive research I would guess that the London to Portsmouth milestones date back to before the mid 1600's when the road was used to enable to quick escape from London of the baby son of King James II; unfortunately, Portsmouth wasn't a safe-haven for long, but nobody bothered to go back and clear the road of milestones. That said, they are likely to have pre-dated that to the time that the Royal Navy set up home in Portsmouth in the late 15th century...so, my best guess is that the road, and therefore the milestones have been in existence for a very long time
....and now you know why I never became a history teacher
My research was inconclusive - or rather, I ran out of energy before finding the right answer. Needless to say, based on my not-so-extensive research I would guess that the London to Portsmouth milestones date back to before the mid 1600's when the road was used to enable to quick escape from London of the baby son of King James II; unfortunately, Portsmouth wasn't a safe-haven for long, but nobody bothered to go back and clear the road of milestones. That said, they are likely to have pre-dated that to the time that the Royal Navy set up home in Portsmouth in the late 15th century...so, my best guess is that the road, and therefore the milestones have been in existence for a very long time
....and now you know why I never became a history teacher
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