I am guessing there will be a very simple answer which will make me look daft, but I wonder where this milestone is now?
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| The "Old Mile Post", 1965 |
It was according to the caption the “Old Mile Post, Chester Road, Stretford, (outside St Matthews Church)”.
Now I was there a few months ago and couldn’t see it.
But back then I wasn’t looking for it, and indeed only discovered it last week when I was looking through a set of colour slides, donated by the daughter of the chap who took the pictures.
In all there are 32 images, which cover Manchester, Salford, Stretford, Wythenshawe and Chorlton.
The collection was made in the summer of 1965, and are mix of industrial scenes, some historic buildings and a few of city centre Manchester.
So that is it.
My old fellow wanderer through the past, Bill Sumner has promised to investigate.
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| The Great Stone, 1965 |
It is now at the entrance to Gorse Hill Park but it originally stood on the south side of the Roman road from Manchester to Chester.
It was moved here in 1925. It is also thought to have been used later as a plague stone. Plague stones had holes in, usually filled with vinegar, where money from an infected town could be placed so that trades people delivering food could collect it.
This meant they did not have to come in to contact with those infected. The vinegar was thought to act as a disinfectant on the money”.*
So, 40 years after it was placed in the park it was the subject of a photograph, and while I can be sure of its location I bet there will be someone with an alternative explanation for its origin.
We shall see
*The Great Stone, Chester Road, Stretford, Greater Manchester, Historic England, https://historicengland.org.uk/services-skills/education/educational-images/the-great-stone-chester-road-stretford-8408
Location; Stretford
Pictures; Old Mile Post and Great Stone, 1965 from the 1965 Collection
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