[A] local volunteer has brought an important piece of local history back to life after renovating one of Carlisle’s historic milestones from 1785 – situated at the entrance of the new Suttle Gardens development off Wigton Road from Homes by Esh.
Milestone markers have been used for hundreds of years to mark distances to and from major towns and cities throughout the region and their age and location often means they are in a poor condition. Renovation of the markers is undertaken by local enthusiast and volunteer, Terry Moore, who uses map reading skills developed from many years of mountaineering to find remaining milestones scattered throughout the region in need of tlc.
The Suttle Gardens milestone indicates 2 miles to Carlisle and 24.5 miles to Cockermouth and is the closest marker of its kind to the city now that the one mile marker stone is presumed lost.
Terry Moore comments: “I’ve restored over 50 different milestones in and around Cumbria since 2013 and work in partnership with English Heritage and the local council conservation team on a volunteer basis to ensure milestones are preserved for the future.
“Quite often development work can lead to milestones disappearing and I was particularly keen to ensure we not only found the original plate at Suttle Gardens but also arrange for removal and restoration as soon as possible. After much searching, and with the full cooperation of the Homes by Esh construction team on site, I was able to find and remove the milestone to be completely renovated and reinstalled at a later date.”
The milestone has now been fully restored with stonework filled in and repainted and the original plate is fully legible once again to passers by. It was reinstalled by the on site construction team at Suttle Gardens where it should hopefully remain for another 200 hundred years.
Colin Willetts, deputy managing director of Homes by Esh comments: “We were fully supportive of Terry’s efforts to find and renovate the milestone marker and were keen to assist in any way to reinstall the stone just next to the entrance of the development.
“The milestone is one of the few so close to Carlisle and supports our own efforts to restore the grade II listed Suttle House which sits at the heart of the new Suttle Gardens development of family focused homes. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank Terry for his efforts to reinstate yet another piece of Cumbrian history.”
Properties at Suttle Gardens are now available for sale, priced from £204,995. For further information please visit www.homesbyesh.co.uk or call 07813 456174 . For more information on the work undertaken to preserve milestone markers please visit www.milestonesociety.co.uk.
