milestone/milepost

Freestanding milestone on rectangular-plan, erected c. 1770, having rounded head. Inscription to front face reading ‘RAMELTON 1 DUNFANAGHY 17½’ Located to the west of Rathmelton Bridge (see 40800206) across the River Leannan to the west of the centre of Ramelton. Located to the north side of road adjacent to laneway between two houses.

This milestone is an interesting and subtle historical survival in the streetscape to the west of the centre of Ramelton. It reads ‘RAMELTON 1 (?) DUNFANAGHY 17½’: the distances are in Irish miles, which are longer than the standard mile measurement used today. It probably dates to the second half of the eighteenth-century, a period when the Grand Juries were responsible for a great deal of improvement in the road transport network throughout Ireland, particularly the development of a series of 'turnpike roads' (from 1729) on which milestones are usually found. However, there were apparently no turnpike roads established in Donegal before 1805. The majority of roads in Ireland were built after 1765 when new legislation gave the Grand Juries the power (under the Presentment System) to repair, widen and improve old roads and establish new roads. This simple item of street furniture represents a rare surviving artefact of its type, and is an integral element of the built heritage and transport history of the local area.