Milestone Men

A man turned up at my parents' front door to introduce himself as a member of the Milestone Society, and to ask permission to clamber through the trees to check out the inside of their front boundary wall.

It turned out that the milestone embedded in this wall is a rare example - a single stone, broached, capped. Possibly once painted black, or tarred, over the bottom section. Mile numbers painted on. Likely to have been set up around 1800-1820 when legislation came into force requiring milestones on the turnpike roads to prevent fraud by carriers.

They were rather scathing of Edinburgh's neglect/lack of interest in its milestones. Fife does well.

Extra - the Zephrine Drouhin is shocking us all pink in its last burst of flowering for the season.