Dave Collins Creating an Exmoor Waymaker Sign for A Royal Visit to Timberscombe and the Timberscombe area Milestones
Title
Dave Collins Creating an Exmoor Waymaker Sign for A Royal Visit to Timberscombe and the Timberscombe area Milestones
Subject
Description
The upper photograph depicts Dave Collins creating a traditional wooden Exmoor Waymaker sign for the Exmoor National Park Authority at its workshop in Exford (1). These are the signs seen throughout Exmoor villages and alongside walking trails and bridleways, often identifying to a viewer where they are or perhaps where they are going, sometimes with a reassuring yellow triangle attached pointing them in the proper direction.
At the top of this particular sign,"TIMBERS " is visible, already carved and painted, followed by a "C"not yet completed and surely the beginnings of "TIMBERSCOMBE". Below this is an "HRH". Dave Collins worked for the Exmoor National Park Authority from 1986 to 2012, making "signs, gates and the like" (2). During that time period, two "Her Royal Highnesses" visited Timberscombe, Princess Margaret on 23 June 1989 , when she officiated the opening of the village's Vicarage Court (3) and the Princess Royal, Anne, who on 4 July 1997 was at Timberscombe to cut the ribbon for the John Arlott playground (4). Both the top and middle photographs of Mr. Collins were donated by his older brother, Tim Collins of Whitelackington near Ilminster, who confirmed that "the sign was made by my younger brother, Dave Collins at the ENPA workshops in Exford in the 1990s"--suggesting Princess Anne was the HRH promoted by this particular sign.
Admittedly, the upper photograph was slightly staged, as Dave Collins would have been wearing a protective mask (5), perhaps deemed as lessening the impact of the image. The photographer was Mark J. Rattenbury, who lived in Devon most of his life, a boat builder who took up photography with an intense interest in people and their work and issues (6). This is visible in his photographs throughout "REFLECTIONS, LIFE PORTRAITS OF EXMOOR", with text and recording by Birdie Johnson, published by the Dulverton & District Civic Society in 2002.
Dave Collins was born in the District of Warwick in Warwickshire in 1963, the youngest of the three sons of Fred and Pamela (nee Wilkins) Collins (7). Fred Collins had been born in 1929 at Chard, Somerset (8) and in 1974 was working as a maintenance and security officer at an electronics factory at Barford, Warwickshire when he saw a job opportunity in Somerset for an Exmoor National Park Ranger. He applied, and against the odds, happily held that position for the next twenty years (9). At first the Collins family lived at Lynch, Wheddon Cross and Hawkwell Bridge, ending up at No. 2 Bemberry Bank in Timberscombe, where Dave Collins lived with his parents until 1982. In 1993, he purchased a flat on Quirk Street in Minehead, ultimately living just outside of the town (10).
In the middle photograph, Dave Collins is seen in Dulverton, assembling a wooden version of perhaps Exmoor's most renowned form of signage, the fingerpost. Taken by John Atkins and published by the West Somerset Free Press, Mr. Collins is photographed installing the signs, placing distinctive large blades known as "fingers"--in this case made of Exmoor oak-- onto the post to point out the various amenities of Dulverton.
One of the earliest fingerpost signs was placed at the main junction in Wheddon Cross, with just two fingers, one pointing toward Cutcombe (2 miles) and the other to Exford (3 miles). Naturally, depending on how many fingers were attached to the post and in what direction they were pointing, one fingerpost could look quite different from another. By 1907 the Somerset County Council felt that a more standard look should be adopted. None of those signs have survived and fingerposts returned with a flourish (11).
Before World War II, most fingerpost signs were wooden. In 1935, it was decreed that all posts had to be painted with alternating black and white bands. While stylish, such conformity did not last. Most were painted with black and white or completely white posts, with black lettering against a white background on the fingers. Some red fingerposts did pop up, such as the well-named Red Post at the turnoff to Horner from the A39. It was said these were placed on sites where before gallows had been erected-- or had some other nefarious history (12).
In 1940 all fingerpost signs had to be removed because of the fear of wartime invasion and thus not giving away to the enemy useful directions. Initially the posts were left in place, with the fingers buried at their base but apparently someone realised that Germans could dig, so the entire fingerpost was removed and hidden . After the war, most were returned (13).
By the 1960's, The Department of Transportation issued a report that fingerposts were difficult to read and "dangerous distractions" (14). Admittedly on newer, wider and faster roads, this could be true. The Worboy's Report of 1964 called for the "old style" signs to be updated and modernised. Out in the countryside (and certainly in West Somerset where most fingerposts were c. 1930s) this instruction was largely ignored, although some of this was because there simply was not the money to make the changes (15). The fortunate upshot was that in a changing world, these previously odd and eccentric (to some) signposts became historic links to the past and to individuality.
It is not known if Dave Collins ever designed milestones, but these third type of road signs were just as essential for earlier travellers. In 1647 an Act of Parliament authorised local Justices of Peace to mandate roadside markers indicating consecutive distances to destinations (16) and after 1767, milestones became compulsory on all turnpike roads as a means of measurement (17). How many milestones a traveller passed on these early routes might indicate how much they paid at the Toll House.
Most milestones have not survived to the present day. They were often removed or defaced during World War II, again because of invasion fears and as traffic changed and increased, many were demolished simply by being hit by fast-moving vehicles (18). Yet the area around Timberscombe has more historic milestones still in place than most. The Minehead-Tiverton Turnpike Act was passed in Parliament in May 1765, deciding that routes between these towns should be created and connected to become a continuous Toll Road (19). The complete route was not cut until 1826 but existed in some form around Timberscombe at least by 1822. This was likely because even though it was known as a difficult road to travel (it often flooded) it did already exist as the old road from Dunster (20) that reached the Rose and Crown, Timberscombe's pub that was operating by that point --as acknowledged in 1822 by the House of Lords (21).
At some point, a Toll House was established at Cowbridge at what became the junction of Cowbridge Road and the Old Dunster Road--which would be reclassified as the A396 in the far away future of 1922 (22). It was known as Gate House and later fell apart and was removed, likely in the 1960s (23). When new though, because of the 1767 law, milestones had to be erected coming to and passing through this area.. Since there had been rudimentary sections of road already in place, the origins of these milestones may have preceded the law.
Around Timberscombe are four extant milestones. The photograph on the bottom left is the one closest to the village placed between the northeastern edge of Timberscombe and the former site of Gate House. As seen, it has a metal plaque set in stone, reading "5 MILES to Minehead". A mile to its west, by the entrance to Kitswall Farm, is a similar milestone also with a plaque, stating "4 MILES to Minehead". And a mile away and past the western end of Timberscombe, situated between Waydown Cross and Harwood Cross is the "6 MILES to Minehead" marker. Milestones are depicted at these same spots on an Ordnance Survey Map of 1904 and may have been here even to post-medieval times--- but are not these milestones (24).
On the photograph of the "5 MILE" stone, an orange rectangle is visible on the lower right of the plaque, which contains lettering reading "Cerdic 2006" and indeed these were created that year by Cerdic Foundries Ltd. at Chard, when Somerset Heritage decided to restore the turnpike markers on the A396. They are very nice markers and continue to look historic, yet there is no known photographs of what they replaced. The Historic Environment Record of Exmoor National Park still describes these as possibly post-medieval but presumably that could just refer to their locations. (It does record that the replaced marker at Kitswall Farm not only indicated that Minehead was 4 miles way but also that Dulverton was 12 miles in the opposite direction. HER also records that the newer milestone was struck by a car in 2015 and was moved to the other side of the road by the Kitswall entrance, hoping it would be safer there.)
Fortunately there is the "7 MILES to Minehead" marker, as seen on the right bottom photograph. Made of sandstone with a cast-iron plaque, the stone is possibly post-medieval and the plaque with its raised lettering is possibly c.1820, dating it as original to the turnpike. Ironically it is not on the turnpike. Its original location was on the current A396, north of the Oaktrow Quarries (25). As photographed, it is now situated on the nearby Draper's Lane, alongside the River Avill and across the road from the 17th century Traveller's Rest (seen in the background), briefly a public house in the later 19th century when this road was busier and known as the Old Exford Road (26). It is not clear when the milestone was moved but it was no longer in its previous location by May 2012 when a National Park Survey was taken. The "7 MILE" stone had been previously listed by English Heritage in 1985 and that (and perhaps its relocation) would have kept this milestone unchanged, allowing a possible suggestion of how the other previous turnpike milestones may have looked. They are not so terribly different.
At the top of this particular sign,"TIMBERS " is visible, already carved and painted, followed by a "C"not yet completed and surely the beginnings of "TIMBERSCOMBE". Below this is an "HRH". Dave Collins worked for the Exmoor National Park Authority from 1986 to 2012, making "signs, gates and the like" (2). During that time period, two "Her Royal Highnesses" visited Timberscombe, Princess Margaret on 23 June 1989 , when she officiated the opening of the village's Vicarage Court (3) and the Princess Royal, Anne, who on 4 July 1997 was at Timberscombe to cut the ribbon for the John Arlott playground (4). Both the top and middle photographs of Mr. Collins were donated by his older brother, Tim Collins of Whitelackington near Ilminster, who confirmed that "the sign was made by my younger brother, Dave Collins at the ENPA workshops in Exford in the 1990s"--suggesting Princess Anne was the HRH promoted by this particular sign.
Admittedly, the upper photograph was slightly staged, as Dave Collins would have been wearing a protective mask (5), perhaps deemed as lessening the impact of the image. The photographer was Mark J. Rattenbury, who lived in Devon most of his life, a boat builder who took up photography with an intense interest in people and their work and issues (6). This is visible in his photographs throughout "REFLECTIONS, LIFE PORTRAITS OF EXMOOR", with text and recording by Birdie Johnson, published by the Dulverton & District Civic Society in 2002.
Dave Collins was born in the District of Warwick in Warwickshire in 1963, the youngest of the three sons of Fred and Pamela (nee Wilkins) Collins (7). Fred Collins had been born in 1929 at Chard, Somerset (8) and in 1974 was working as a maintenance and security officer at an electronics factory at Barford, Warwickshire when he saw a job opportunity in Somerset for an Exmoor National Park Ranger. He applied, and against the odds, happily held that position for the next twenty years (9). At first the Collins family lived at Lynch, Wheddon Cross and Hawkwell Bridge, ending up at No. 2 Bemberry Bank in Timberscombe, where Dave Collins lived with his parents until 1982. In 1993, he purchased a flat on Quirk Street in Minehead, ultimately living just outside of the town (10).
In the middle photograph, Dave Collins is seen in Dulverton, assembling a wooden version of perhaps Exmoor's most renowned form of signage, the fingerpost. Taken by John Atkins and published by the West Somerset Free Press, Mr. Collins is photographed installing the signs, placing distinctive large blades known as "fingers"--in this case made of Exmoor oak-- onto the post to point out the various amenities of Dulverton.
One of the earliest fingerpost signs was placed at the main junction in Wheddon Cross, with just two fingers, one pointing toward Cutcombe (2 miles) and the other to Exford (3 miles). Naturally, depending on how many fingers were attached to the post and in what direction they were pointing, one fingerpost could look quite different from another. By 1907 the Somerset County Council felt that a more standard look should be adopted. None of those signs have survived and fingerposts returned with a flourish (11).
Before World War II, most fingerpost signs were wooden. In 1935, it was decreed that all posts had to be painted with alternating black and white bands. While stylish, such conformity did not last. Most were painted with black and white or completely white posts, with black lettering against a white background on the fingers. Some red fingerposts did pop up, such as the well-named Red Post at the turnoff to Horner from the A39. It was said these were placed on sites where before gallows had been erected-- or had some other nefarious history (12).
In 1940 all fingerpost signs had to be removed because of the fear of wartime invasion and thus not giving away to the enemy useful directions. Initially the posts were left in place, with the fingers buried at their base but apparently someone realised that Germans could dig, so the entire fingerpost was removed and hidden . After the war, most were returned (13).
By the 1960's, The Department of Transportation issued a report that fingerposts were difficult to read and "dangerous distractions" (14). Admittedly on newer, wider and faster roads, this could be true. The Worboy's Report of 1964 called for the "old style" signs to be updated and modernised. Out in the countryside (and certainly in West Somerset where most fingerposts were c. 1930s) this instruction was largely ignored, although some of this was because there simply was not the money to make the changes (15). The fortunate upshot was that in a changing world, these previously odd and eccentric (to some) signposts became historic links to the past and to individuality.
It is not known if Dave Collins ever designed milestones, but these third type of road signs were just as essential for earlier travellers. In 1647 an Act of Parliament authorised local Justices of Peace to mandate roadside markers indicating consecutive distances to destinations (16) and after 1767, milestones became compulsory on all turnpike roads as a means of measurement (17). How many milestones a traveller passed on these early routes might indicate how much they paid at the Toll House.
Most milestones have not survived to the present day. They were often removed or defaced during World War II, again because of invasion fears and as traffic changed and increased, many were demolished simply by being hit by fast-moving vehicles (18). Yet the area around Timberscombe has more historic milestones still in place than most. The Minehead-Tiverton Turnpike Act was passed in Parliament in May 1765, deciding that routes between these towns should be created and connected to become a continuous Toll Road (19). The complete route was not cut until 1826 but existed in some form around Timberscombe at least by 1822. This was likely because even though it was known as a difficult road to travel (it often flooded) it did already exist as the old road from Dunster (20) that reached the Rose and Crown, Timberscombe's pub that was operating by that point --as acknowledged in 1822 by the House of Lords (21).
At some point, a Toll House was established at Cowbridge at what became the junction of Cowbridge Road and the Old Dunster Road--which would be reclassified as the A396 in the far away future of 1922 (22). It was known as Gate House and later fell apart and was removed, likely in the 1960s (23). When new though, because of the 1767 law, milestones had to be erected coming to and passing through this area.. Since there had been rudimentary sections of road already in place, the origins of these milestones may have preceded the law.
Around Timberscombe are four extant milestones. The photograph on the bottom left is the one closest to the village placed between the northeastern edge of Timberscombe and the former site of Gate House. As seen, it has a metal plaque set in stone, reading "5 MILES to Minehead". A mile to its west, by the entrance to Kitswall Farm, is a similar milestone also with a plaque, stating "4 MILES to Minehead". And a mile away and past the western end of Timberscombe, situated between Waydown Cross and Harwood Cross is the "6 MILES to Minehead" marker. Milestones are depicted at these same spots on an Ordnance Survey Map of 1904 and may have been here even to post-medieval times--- but are not these milestones (24).
On the photograph of the "5 MILE" stone, an orange rectangle is visible on the lower right of the plaque, which contains lettering reading "Cerdic 2006" and indeed these were created that year by Cerdic Foundries Ltd. at Chard, when Somerset Heritage decided to restore the turnpike markers on the A396. They are very nice markers and continue to look historic, yet there is no known photographs of what they replaced. The Historic Environment Record of Exmoor National Park still describes these as possibly post-medieval but presumably that could just refer to their locations. (It does record that the replaced marker at Kitswall Farm not only indicated that Minehead was 4 miles way but also that Dulverton was 12 miles in the opposite direction. HER also records that the newer milestone was struck by a car in 2015 and was moved to the other side of the road by the Kitswall entrance, hoping it would be safer there.)
Fortunately there is the "7 MILES to Minehead" marker, as seen on the right bottom photograph. Made of sandstone with a cast-iron plaque, the stone is possibly post-medieval and the plaque with its raised lettering is possibly c.1820, dating it as original to the turnpike. Ironically it is not on the turnpike. Its original location was on the current A396, north of the Oaktrow Quarries (25). As photographed, it is now situated on the nearby Draper's Lane, alongside the River Avill and across the road from the 17th century Traveller's Rest (seen in the background), briefly a public house in the later 19th century when this road was busier and known as the Old Exford Road (26). It is not clear when the milestone was moved but it was no longer in its previous location by May 2012 when a National Park Survey was taken. The "7 MILE" stone had been previously listed by English Heritage in 1985 and that (and perhaps its relocation) would have kept this milestone unchanged, allowing a possible suggestion of how the other previous turnpike milestones may have looked. They are not so terribly different.
Creator
Mark J. Rattenbury /
John Atkins /
Tom Sperling
John Atkins /
Tom Sperling
Publisher
the middle photograph was printed by the West Somerset Free Press
Date
likely c. 1997
likely later 1980s or 1900s
June 2022
likely later 1980s or 1900s
June 2022
Contributor
Language
English
Identifier
c. 1997 photograph of Dave Collins creating an Exmoor Waymaker sign / Dave Collins installing a fingerpoint sign at Dulverton, likely in the 1980s or 1990s / photographs of milestones at Timberscombe and on Drapers Lane, northeast of Timberscombe
Acquisition Date
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
Acquisition Method
Gift
Gift
Research
Gift
Research
Category
PEOPLE: Named / Timberscombe
PEOPLE: Occupations / Timberscombe
PLACES: Archaeological / Timberscombe
PEOPLE: Occupations / Timberscombe
PLACES: Archaeological / Timberscombe
Condition
Good
Condition Notes
entered by Tom Sperling
Condition Date
2022
Dimension Type
W X L
Dimension Units
cm
Dimension Value
10 X 15
10.5 X 15
10.5 X 16. 5
10.5 X 15
10.5 X 16. 5
Institution Name
St. Petrock's History Group
Notes
(1) as recalled in 2022 by Tim Collins, the older brother of Dave Collins and a member (and donator ) of the St. Petrocks History Group (2) as recalled by Tim Collins (3) Somerset County Gazette, 23 June 1989 (4) "HRH The Princess Royal Visits Vicarage Court and Opens the John Arlott Playground", a program dated 4 Friday July 1997, The Rural Housing Trust and West Somerset Rural Housing Program (5) as recalled by Tim Collins (6) photographer's biography, printed on the rear cover flap of "REFLECTIONS, LIFE PORTRAITS OF EXMOOR", text and recording by Birdie Johnson , photography by Mark J. Rattembury, Dulverton & District Civic Society, 2002 (7) England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2007 (8) England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2007 (9) "HAPPY DAYS AS AN EXMOOR RANGER", 2CD by Fred Collins, Exmoor Books & Halsgrove Productions, 1997 Lower Moor Way, Tiverton (10) as recalled by Tim Collins and UK, Electoral Registers, 2003-2010 (11) The Historic Environment Record for Exmoor National Park, Exmoor National Park, exmoorher.co.uk and Exmoor, nationalpark.gov.uk. (12) The Historic Environment Record for Exmoor National Park and Exmoor, nationalpark.gov.uk. (13) CountryLife.co.uk/out-and-about/ in-focus-fingerposts-and-what-they-mean and The Historic Environment record for Exmoor National Park (14) CountryLife.co.uk (15) roads.org.uk (16) SOMERSET 1- The Milestone Society, milestonesociety.co.uk>countysheets PDF (17) roads.org.uk and SOMERSET 1- The Milestone Society (18) Milestones and Mileposts, Tuesday, 15 May 2018-Off the Beaten Track in Somerset, blogspot.com and SOMERSET1- The Milestone Society (19) foda.org.uk and bampton.org.uk/history-old roads (20) VictoriaCountyHistory.ac.uk , "TIMBERSCOMBE/ Communications/ Roads" (21) Journal of the House of Lords, June 1822, books.google.com > books (where discussions of the new toll road are to be connected to the site of the current dwelling house owned by Robert Blackmore, which was the Rose and Crown (22) as seen at SP-044, SP-045 and SP-046 and Sabre-roads.org.uk (23) as recalled by Wendy Hellewell in September 2019 (24) SOMERSET 1-The Milestone Society and Historic Environment Record of Exmoor National Park, MEM23804, MEM23803, MSO10471 and MSO10439 (25) HER, MSO10546 and as recalled in June 2022 by Jim Bruce of East Harwood Cottage, Timberscombe (26) travellerrest_exmoor.co.uk and VCH
Storage Location
St. Petrock's History Group Archive
Storage Date
2022
Storage Notes
St. Petrock's History Group PHOTOGRAPHS
Item Reference
SP-289
Technique
Copies
Citation
Mark J. Rattenbury /
John Atkins /
Tom Sperling, “Dave Collins Creating an Exmoor Waymaker Sign for A Royal Visit to Timberscombe and the Timberscombe area Milestones,” St. Petrock's History Group, accessed April 20, 2024, https://stpetrockshistorygroup.omeka.net/items/show/3584.
Comments