Milestone or milepost in Ballinderry Big

Freestanding limestone milestone on rectangular plan having pyramidal top, erected c.1780, with ‘Moate’ and ‘Kilbeggan’ carved onto appropriate faces. Mileage now illegible. Benchmark incised to top, c.1830. Located a short distance to the west of Kilbeggan along the main Dublin to Galway road.

A nicely carved limestone artefact which is an interesting addition to the roadscape to the west of Kilbeggan, acting as a subtle reminder of the great age of coaching in Ireland. It probably dates to the late eighteenth-century, a period when the Grand Juries were responsible for a great deal of improvement in the road transport network throughout Ireland. The incised benchmark was carved by the Ordnance Survey in preparation for the production of the first Six-Inch Map Series in the 1830s. This milestone is one of a number surviving along the Dublin Galway Road.