A village street scene in 1917 featuring a stone obelisk on a grass verge near a building and a horse-drawn cart in the road.

The Obelisk, Brampton – 1917

The Obelisk, Brampton

History of the Obelisk

Listed Building

Milepost, mid C18 trianguar obelisk, surmounted by ball finial.

A weathered stone obelisk topped with a spherical finial stands on a roadside verge in front of a white house and hedge.

Obelisk, Brampton (RGL2025)

A weathered, lichen-covered stone obelisk topped with a sphere, inscribed with 60 LONDON against a cloudy sky.

Obelisk, Brampton (RGL2025)

The Obelisk, Brampton – 2022

The entry on the Historic England site describes the post as “Milepost, mid C18 triangular obelisk, surmounted by ball finial. On a square base with moulded upper edge. The plinth has been repaired. South east face with hand pointing TO THRAPSTON TO HUNTINGDON and south west face also with hand pointing TO LONDON.

It is quite a thing to think this milepost has been at this spot for the best part of 300 years and would have been there at the height of the stagecoach era prior to the invention of the railways.

First picture is a postcard posted in 1917. The building in the background was the Royal Oak public house which closed and was demolished sometime in the 1970’s. Second picture taken this morning. Third and fourth pictures show the detail on the milepost.

(Thanks to David Gent)

Then and Now

Building dates

Built 1730–1770

Source for this date

Built 1730–1770: Listed building: mid C18

Projects

Brampton

Share this article

Facebook Bluesky

Contribute

Do you have any information about the people or places in this article? If so, then please let us know using the Contact page or by emailing capturingcambridge@museumofcambridge.org.uk.

Licence

The text on this page is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Listed Building data contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.