By Kate Simon
Unearthing quirky local stories is the ultimate goal of the guidebook writer. When I co-wrote Slow Travel Cheshire for Bradt Guides with Suzanne King, my fellow author uncovered a gem, the Travellers’ Rest.
I’m not talking about a pub, these are the stone blocks that started appearing by the roadside in the Warrington area around 1859, offering brief respite for weary Victorian wanderers. Aptly described by Suzanne as looking like a ‘diminutive medal winners’ podium’, they were the inspiration of James Kendrick, a local doctor.
The kindly medic’s idea was to position them every two miles along the road from Liverpool to Manchester as a place to take a breath, particularly for Irish labourers and their families seeking work in the fields at harvest time.
Kendrick designed the stone benches to enable the footsore to sit comfortably with their elbows resting on their knees and the seat was dome-shaped to let the rain run away. They could even accommodate a large bundle or fellow travellers. The lower levels provided a handy footrest for nursing mothers or a seat for a small child.
According to Historic England, Kendrick paid for two of the Travellers’ Rests and persuaded wealthy folk to part with a couple of hundred guineas, their generosity rewarded with an inscription, for each of the others.
While Kendrick appears not to have achieved his plan to install 30 of these welcome resting points, 12 still exist. Four have been Grade II listed for some years – at Grappenhall, Great Sankey, Swan Green (pictured above) and Lymm. This month they were joined by two more, at Walton and Winwick. Historic England believes the stones ‘manifest the area’s history’, in this case the significant presence of ‘migrant-labourer foot traffic’.
Pillar boxes and telephone kiosks may be embedded in our national consciousness but the Travellers’ Rest is typical of the kind of street furniture we pass by without much thought. Yet these objects can open a window on our past as we travel about Britain.
For example, the humble bollard is a testament to the need to start controlling traffic from the 18th century. If you visit Hampstead Heath in London, take a walk down Cannon Lane to see some that were unusually made from recycled naval cannon.
In Sheffield, look twice at the lampposts. Twenty Victorian gas lanterns have been listed for doubling as sewer vents, burning off the foul air. On the corner of High Street and Bromley Road in Beckenham, Kent, note the 18th-century milestone which records distances in furlongs. It highlights an historic moment in Parliament when the Great Turnpike Act of 1773 changed the road measurement system to mileage.
Most historic embellishments to our landscape reveal a community-minded spirit and many of these furnishings have evolved to become even more useful in modern times. But the story of our age is also reflected in the darker presence of CCTV cameras, anti-terrorism measures, and designs intended to deter rough sleeping. Perhaps future generations will look back on these as eyesores rather than eye-openers.
Phil’s Beer Notes
Those Travellers’ Rest stones are almost crying out for a pub crawl so you can make good use of them between pints, and the Warrington area fortunately provides some good beer.
The award-winning Hop Emporium (formerly the Real Ale Shack), opened in Warrington market by Camra enthusiasts, usually offers a good range of cask and craft keg, while the Anchor & Hops in Stockton Heath (between Walton and Grappenhall) is a bottle shop and taproom with half a dozen keg lines featuring leading craft brewers
The old red-brick post office in Lymm is now home to Lymm Brewing Co and its Brewery Tap, and its related company, Costello’s Bar, which has a more modern feel, has a branch nearby and in the centre of Warrington. Both serve beers from Lymm and Dunham Massey Brewing.
Photo © Suzanne King
Makes me think of the Wallace fountains in Paris.
Really nice writing Kate, love the idea of thinking about street furniture as community led and driven, rather than the modern way being led by designing out crime, which actively goes against the people who inhabit the space around it.