Planting bulbs along Shirehampton Road last year gave us the opportunity to inspect the Kings Weston estate’s smallest Listed building. The milestone is easily missed as you hurtle along the road, and not much more obvious amongst the boulders as a pedestrian. It’s a low vertical marker not even 3ft in height, the rough pennant hewn into a shallow arched top. It’s most obvious feature is a cast iron plate on its road side announcing “To Briftol 4” (the ‘f’ is a now obsolete way of writing ‘s’). Grade II Listed, this stone is described as an 18th Century milestone on Historic England’s register. So why is it there in the middle of the park?
Turnpike Trusts were an early way of ensuring major highways were kept in good order. Before their advent it was down to local parishes to upkeep roads; this saw far from universal care taken of the country’s network, each parish taking their own measures, or not at all. Tolls collected by Turnpike Trusts were ringfenced for the maintenance and improvement of the trunk roads in their care. Bristol’s Trust was amongst the earliest in the country, being initiated in 1727, and developed into one of the most extensive networks.
In 1758 Government passed an Act to enable the Trust to extend, taking on the roads to Shirehampton and the Pill ferry, and to the ferry across the Severn from Aust. It’s slightly unusual that an improved road to Shirehampton was such an early route, the village then being inconsequential and the area a rural destination. The Pill ferry may have given some justification for the improved route, but it’s possible the influence of the Southwell family was at play. The second Edward Southwell (1705-55) was elected MP for Bristol from 1739, and improved connections between Kings Weston and the city, and onwards from there to London, would have been in his interests. He already subscribed to the Trust.
The route to Shirehampton would pass through the Kings Weston estate, repairing and renewing the existing road to an improved standard, though surrounding landholders were expected to make contributions to such undertakings. The improvements opened out the north of Bristol and Shirehampton to “the fashionable throng at the Hot Wells” and throughout the 18th Century fed an embryonic trade in tourism enjoyed from the attractions of Kings Weston house, parkland, inn, and the natural delights of Kingsweston Hill and Penpole Point. Whatever influence Edward Southwell might have had in the decision to extend the roads, he never lived to enjoy them. Dying in 1755 the estate was inherited by his son Edward still in his minority.
The Shirehampton Road milestone was one of the features added by the Turnpike Trust for the convenience of travellers. It might reasonably have been added after their network was extended through the park in the 1750s. The two lodges, Park Lodge and Shirehampton Lodge, were not to do with the Trust however. Returning from his Grand Tour of Europe in 1761 the young Edward Southwell (the third), was keen to reinforce the bounds of his park and the turnpike road was something of a hinderance in that. With the assistance of his architect, Robert Mylne, and landscape designer, Thomas Wright, he set out to mark its boundary with lodges and gates. These were never intended for the collection of tolls, but were a statement of ownership, the gates being closed perhaps by night, or for general control of vehicles and riders passing through the estate.
The same year as his return to take command of his inheritance, the Turnpike commissioners received £30 from Southwell towards widening and ‘amending’ the road from Lamplighters hall and the Shirehampton towards Kingsweston. This may have involved the regrading of the present Park Hill.
A further Act, receiving Royal assent in 1819, added the route from Shirehampton to Gloucester, across Kingsweston Hill, to the Turnpike’s responsibilities. The route diverged from the original turnpike road at Park Lodge and, initially, adopted the road across the brow of the hill and past Kingsweston Inn before continuing towards Henbury. With the Trust’s objective to improve the roads in its care, the steep gradients up to the inn and down again were an urgent focus for works. Finding a solution was down to their chief engineer, Robert McAdam. We’ve previously looked at the history of the iron bridge in depth, but it’s worth noting the context into which its construction fits. In 1821 McAdam was engaged in work “lowering hill and building walls at Kingsweston Hill” , the cutting for which the bridge was required to span.
The tollgates were eventually removed from the Bristol network in 1867 and the roads passed to local highway authorities to maintain. At Kings Weston, we have two monuments, the bridge and the easily overlooked milepost, that stand testament to the benefits brought by the turnpike roads to local travellers and commerce alike; Would the Kings Weston estate have become so celebrated had they not permitted visitors such easy access?