We want to raise awareness of the milestones in Surrey Heath due to one of them being structurally removed last year; the pieces are currently on display in the Museum's Travel Through Surrey Heath exhibition.
To raise awareness of these milestones, Surrey Heath Museum has begun a ‘Hug a Milestone’ campaign and we invite you to find your nearest milestone, take a photograph or selfie of you hugging it and send it in to us. We will then post your image on our social media sites.
Some of our Surrey Heath Borough Councillors have already 'embraced' our campaign and we'll be tweeting and posting their #hugshots throughout the campaign, so keep a look out! #HugaMilestone
How to get involved
Go out onto the London Road, or the Portsmouth Road and find one of these historic milestone and give it a hug!
Take a photo and Tweet it to us or post it to our Facebook page and join in our campaign using #hugamilestone
1. Hillier Garden Centre, London Road, Windlesham
2. Left of the Windmill Pub, London Road, Windlesham
3. Just right of the Sunrise Nursing Home, London Road, Bagshot
4. In front of houses just left of Jenkins Hill, London Road, Bagshot
5. Opposite Caesars Camp Road, London Road, Camberley
6. Outside VW Garage, London Road, Camberley
7. Opposite Gibbet Lane, Portsmouth Road, Camberley
8. Golf Drive, Portsmouth Road, Camberley
9. On The Grove, opposite Frimley Park Hospital, Portsmouth Road, Frimley
History of Milestones in Surrey Heath
People have travelled across the open heathland of our area for many centuries and these heathland tracks have become the main routes we travel today. This is the origin of the main roads which pass through our area, the A30 (the Great West Road) and the A325 (the Portsmouth Road).
With the rise in stagecoach travel in the 1700s, the increased usage and inadequate upkeep of these routes made them impassable. Turnpike Trusts were set up charging tolls to travellers, funds from which were used for the upkeep of the roads. One local Turnpike Trust was the Bedfont and Bagshot Turnpike Trust who had control of the London and Portsmouth Roads through Surrey Heath. Stones marking miles along the route (milestones) were placed along turnpike routes. In our borough nine of ten remain (the remainder was removed for structural reasons and a replacement is due to be installed later 2016).