English Fingerposts
Introduction
Fingerposts - the old style of road direction sign - remain a common feature of the English countryside. Recently, English Heritage and the Department for Transport issued a Traffic Advisory Leaflet entitled Traditional Direction Signs, which for the first time stated that 'All surviving traditional fingerpost direction signs should be retained in situ and maintained on a regular basis'.
This webpage has been set up to promote their conservation and preservation and to promulgate information about their design and history. It mainly uses Dorset case studies, as the web author previously authored the research report Reclaiming our Rural Highways for the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, part of which covered the conservation of fingerposts.
Pre-20th century history
Legislation was enancted in 1697 which enabled magistrates to place 'direction posts at cross-highways' [Ashley 2002] and one in the Cotswolds placed by Jospeh Izod is supposed to date from 1669 [Department for Transport 2005]. The 1773 General Turnpike Act required turnpike trustees to erect signs informing travellers of the distance to the nearest town, and often to London [ibid].
20th Century History
The 1903 Motor Car Act gave local authorities (County Councils for the majority of the country, and otherwise county boroughs) the responsbility for road signs, although no specifications were set at first. It was in 1921 that the first guidance was given, stating that fingerposts should have:
- 2½- or 3- inch-high upper case lettering on a white background
- the name of the local authority responsible for the sign's maintenance included on the sign
- supporting posts in white
Regulations issued in 1933 (The Traffic Signs (Size, Colour and Type) Provisional Regulations [Dalston Parish Council 2004]) changed the required font and changed the post colour from white to black and white stripes. Most signs were removed during the Second World War 'because it was thought they would be the only way the Third Reich would find its way around' [Ashley 2002]. In the main these were replaced in situ afterwards.
The 1933 regulations were reviewed in 1963 by the Worboys Committee. This led to the 1964 Traffic Signs Regulations and the introduction of a mixed font signing system which largely remains in use today. Whilst the 1964 regulations did encourage local authorities to remove traditional fingerposts, it was not made compulsory to do; some counties appear to have been more zealous than others in fingerpost removal. Regulations did not however permit new fingerpost style signs to be erected until a design was permitted by the Department for the Environment in 1994 (in the Traffic Signs and General Regulations of that year). Of note was that the design did not allow for mileages of over 3 miles to be expressed with the use of halves and quarters. It is thus that new fingerposts have been required to round the previously more accurate distance measurements. This rule also appears in the current 2002 version.
Local variation in historic design
Whilst some elements of fingerpost design were prescribed during the period when their introduction became most widespread, there was plenty of scope for the distinctive spread of designs which remains today.
Fingers can be square-ended (such as in Cornwall and Norfolk), square-ended with scalloped corners (as in Sussex), curved (as in Dorset) or triangular-ended (as is common in Somerset). Where timber was used for the fingers, place names are composed of individually affixed metal letters. Mileage is typically measured to the nearest quarter mile, with fractions being mounted on a separate ready-made plate, although measurements to the fifth- or eighth- of a mile are given in East Lothian. Due to their age, some fingerposts have 'fossilised' the historic spelling of places which was dominant at the time of their construction. Examples include Portisham, rather than the modern spelling Portesham in Dorset. Some examples include the A- or B-road number, although many more of these examples were removed and replaced after 1964.
Although most fingerposts are a combination of black, white or grey, other variants exist. The most well-known are the small number of Red Posts which are found in some of the southern English counties. Various theories have been put forward as to their colour, including being to mark routes used by prisoners on their way to port for transportation to Australia, or the site of a gibbet. Other places have fingerposts with white writing on a green background which indicate the most minor of lanes, sometimes known as 'drift roads'.
Post-Worboys fingerpost designs
Some highway authorities chose to apply the spirit of the Worboys regulations in a fingerpost style, including the use of a the Transport Heavy typeface. Devon County Council introduced triangular-ended fingerposts with edges in four different colours to illustrate the suitability of the route for various types of vehicles, from black (for most vehicles, on A- and B-roads), through blue and brown to fully white fingers, indicating local access only. This system was entitled the Functional Road Network. Suffolk County Council, too, adopted the use of Transport Heavy typefaces on square-ended fingers, and here distances over 3 miles are still given to the nearest quarter.
County-by-County
Selected references
Ashley, P. 2002 Hard Furnishings: Street Furniture London: Everyman Publishers
Blackham, A. 1996 The Red Fingerpopsts of Dorset, Somerset, Cornwall and Hampshire
Dalston Parish Council 2004 Pointing the way: Some historical notes on the provision of Road Direction Posts within the Dalston Parish Council administrative area Accessed on the 26 June 2006 from here
Department for Transport 2005 Traffic Advisory Leaflet 6/05 Traffic Direction Signs
Dorset County Council 1996 Agenda Item 9: Rural Fingerpost Signing at Traffic Sub-Committee 10 July 1996
Dorset County Council 1999 Draft Dorset Heritage Strategy
Dorset Area of Outstanding Beauty Partnership 2005 Reclaiming our Rural Highways
Quantock Hills AONB 2004 Highway Heritage Project Accessed on the 26 June 2006 from here
Author
Text and photos by James Purkiss 2008
Last updated: 11 Mar 2008