The last of Uckfield’s “Bow Bells” mileposts has now been restored.It has stood at Ringles Cross for around 230 years since the late 1700s, marking 42 miles to Bow Bells in London, and was made in an age when many people couldn’t read, so instead the imagery shows a bow with 3 bells suspended below on a ribbon… a 4th bell and the bottom 30cm of the post has long been buried under the pavement. Just behind the pub and the milepost is Paygate Wood, believed to have been named due to there being a tollgate on the road at this location.It was one of many such mileposts, on what was then a new stagecoach toll road and what is now the A22, stretching from Eastbourne in the south, to Godstone in the north, with another branch joining from Lewes, the two roads combining at “Union Point”, now the roundabout in front of the Highlands Inn. The toll road provided a paved route through the famously impenetrable Wealden forest and the sticky, claggy Wealden clay and, along with the Ouse Navigation Canal to Shortbridge near Piltdown, provided the main access to Uckfield before the arrival of the railway almost a century after this post was placed here.Many of the posts can still be seen at the roadside, and this is one of 4 we still have in Uckfield, the others being outside Shoezone on the High Street, and on the Eastbourne and Lewes Roads, at either end of New Road. ... See MoreSee Less
Yesterday (19 September) a group of 4 volunteers cut back the vegetation and tree growth along the footpath that runs from the Ridgewood Village Hall car park and into the Pipers Field estate. ... See MoreSee Less
The last of Uckfield’s “Bow Bells” mileposts has now been restored.It has stood at Ringles Cross for around 230 years since the late 1700s, marking 42 miles to Bow Bells in London, and was made in an age when many people couldn’t read, so instead the imagery shows a bow with 3 bells suspended below on a ribbon… a 4th bell and the bottom 30cm of the post has long been buried under the pavement. Just behind the pub and the milepost is Paygate Wood, believed to have been named due to there being a tollgate on the road at this location.It was one of many such mileposts, on what was then a new stagecoach toll road and what is now the A22, stretching from Eastbourne in the south, to Godstone in the north, with another branch joining from Lewes, the two roads combining at “Union Point”, now the roundabout in front of the Highlands Inn. The toll road provided a paved route through the famously impenetrable Wealden forest and the sticky, claggy Wealden clay and, along with the Ouse Navigation Canal to Shortbridge near Piltdown, provided the main access to Uckfield before the arrival of the railway almost a century after this post was placed here.Many of the posts can still be seen at the roadside, and this is one of 4 we still have in Uckfield, the others being outside Shoezone on the High Street, and on the Eastbourne and Lewes Roads, at either end of New Road. ... See MoreSee Less
