I collect street furniture, and one of my favourites are finger posts.
There are fewer now than in the past, and I suspect many more will eventually disappear to be replaced by giant day glow signs which have all the attractiveness of an overflowing drain.
Those that survive are often in a rural setting and instantly transport you back to a more gentle time, when heavy loads were still transported by horse and cart, and the speed of travel meant you had plenty of time to pause and stare at the finger post, pondering on which direction to take.
This one was collected by Andy Robertson and is near High Legh in Cheshire, a place which once boasted two ancient landed gentry families whose halls were both close by, and which until relatively recently was also partly owned by the Egerton’s of Tatton
The village is six miles north west of Knutsford, seven miles east of Warrington and twelve miles south west of Manchester.*
It’s population in 2011 was 1,653, which was an increase of just 20 on a decade before. It was mentioned in the Domesday Book but oddly does not appear in any of the Topographical Descriptions of England, published between 1825 and 1840.
But perhaps I am just looking in the wrong place, which is apt for a story on finger posts.
Location; Cheshire
Picture; the finger post at High Legh, 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson
*High Legh, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Legh
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