Milepost on Drimnin to Dorlin road, at NM 59662 58019

Milepost on Drimnin to Dorlin Road

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

The seven mileposts stand along a Poor Relief Road that ran from Lochaline to Dorlin. Poor Relief Roads were constructed using money from the Poor Relief Fund to provide employment for people receiving poor relief. The responsibility for poor relief in Scotland fell to the parish following the Reformation, administered jointly through the heritors (local landowners) and the kirk sessions under what became known as the 'Old Poor Law'. Following the Poor Law Amendment (Scotland) Act of 1845, parishes administered poor relief under a 'New Poor Law' system which remained in effect until 1929. Poor Relief Roads are concentrated in remote areas across the west coast of Scotland.

The first 16 kilometres of the Lochaline to Dorlin route is now the B849. In 1847, the section from Bunavullin (1 kilometre southeast of Drimnin) to Killundine River (5 kilometres southeast of Drimnin) was built using Poor Relief Fund money, with 46 families from Drimnin Estate employed for construction. Around 1880, the road from Drimnin to Dorlin was completed, also using Poor Relief Fund money. Study of Roy's Highland map (1747-52) shows several settlements established along the general line of the current road. Arrowsmith's map (1807) and the First Edition Ordnance Survey map (1872) depict a routeway or simple track between Drimnin and Dorlin. The section was essentially upgraded rather than created by the Poor Relief Fund in the 1880s across the 11 kilometre length.

The Second Edition Ordnance Survey map (printed 1897) depicts the new road but not the mileposts. In 1897, or probably soon after, eight mileposts were erected along the route. The County Council briefly adopted the road in 1897 and may have been responsible for erecting the mileposts. The mileposts are the same style and casting as those used on the Isle of Mull, just across the Sound to the west of Drimnin. Other examples of this Pioneer Foundry design can be seen on the isles of Seil and Luing, in Ardnamurchan, and in Berwickshire and west Fife. Today, seven of the original eight mileposts between Drimnin and Dorlin survive.