Milepost on Drimnin to Dorlin road, at NM 55659 53982

Milepost on Drimnin to Dorlin Road

This is one of seven cast iron mileposts probably erected in or shortly after 1897 along the Drimnin to Dorlin road. The mileposts feature fluted column posts that splay towards the base. At the top of each column, on the front face, is an oval makers emblem for the Pioneer Foundry in Blaydon-on-Tyne. The mile marker panels consist of two oval faces within a larger sub-oval cap, set on top of the post, with place names and distance numbers in relief. The seven surviving mileposts are unpainted.

These mileposts were erected following the completion of the Poor Relief Road from Drimnin to Dorlin around 1880. Poor Relief Roads were constructed using money from the Poor Relief Fund to provide employment for those receiving poor relief. The route from Drimnin to Dorlin represented an upgrade of an existing trackway rather than a new creation, extending some 11 kilometres in length. The County Council briefly adopted the road in 1897 and may have been responsible for erecting the mileposts at that time.

The mileposts are made by Pioneer Foundry, the same foundry that supplied similar cast iron mileposts to the Isle of Mull, Seil, Luing, Ardnamurchan, Berwickshire and west Fife. Of the eight mileposts originally erected along the route, seven survive today between Drimnin and Dorlin.