Oxford Milestones on the London to Worcester turnpike

Oxford Milestones: London–Oxford–Worcester turnpike

Wheatley London 48 Oxford 6	Holton London 49 Oxford 5	Forest Hill London 50 Oxford 4	Thornhill London 51 Oxford 3
Headington east London 52 Oxford 2	Headington west London 53 Oxford 1	Magdalen College London 54 [East entrance to Oxford]	12 Woodstock Rd London 55 [North entrance to Oxford]
243 Woodstock Rd Oxford 1 [London 56]	385 Woodstock Rd Oxford 2 [London 57]	Gosford/Water Eaton Oxford 3 [London 58]	Yarnton Oxford 4 [London 59]
Begbroke Oxford 5 [London 60]	The Stokenchurch Turnpike was set up in 1719, and the trust was responsible for the road from Stokenchurch through Oxford to Woodstock, except for the mileways in the city of Oxford, which were included in 1761/2. This road originally took the Old London Road across Shotover. In 1773 the Trustees of the Stokenchurch Turnpike resolved to apply to Parliament “for power to divert the Road, and entirely avoid Shotover Hill”, and in 1788 sought “to impower the Trustees to compleat a Road from the Bottom of Cheney-Lane, upon Headington-Hill, to Forest-Hill…, to be used instead of the present Road up Cheney-Lane and Shotover-Hill”. In 1793 the Trustees asked that “the milestones be new faced and set up at the proper distances on the whole road and new stones provided where necessary”. Many milestones survive on this road, and there is an unbroken run of thirteen milestones (shown above), starting at Wheatley the east of Oxford (48 miles from London) and ending at Begbroke (60 miles from London). East of the city the distances on this turnpike road are marked as being from London and to Oxford. The ones north of the city state the miles to Oxford and London. The road was disturnpiked in 1878, and the toll-gates removed.

The toll-houses/gates on this road included:

Headington (on the south-east junction of Windmill Road and London Road). This toll-house was demolished c.1890 to make room for a new Co-op building
The Plain, Oxford. The first toll toll-house was built in 1771, but was soon replaced by an octagonal one much closer to St Clement's Church, on the site of the present Victoria Fountain. It was demolished in 1869. There were two gates, one across the road to London via St Clement's and Headington and the other on the road to London via Henley (now the Iffley Road).
Yarnton (the former Grapes Inn)

At the beginning of the nineteenth century here were nine coaching inns serving this turnpike route in Oxford alone, all of them in Cornmarket and the High.

The middle section of the London to Worcester turnpike that runs through the counties of Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire originally had 53 milestones (the first being 16 miles and the last 68 miles to London). Of these 53 milestones, 37 still survive:
16 Denham	34 Stokenchurch	52 Headington east
17 missing	35 Stokenchurch	53 Headington west
18 Denham	36 Stokenchurch	54 Magdalen College
19 Gerrards Cross	37 missing	55 Woodstock Road (No. 12)
20 Gerrards Cross	38 missing	56 Woodstock Road (No. 243)
21 Chalfont St Peter	39 missing	57 Woodstock Road (No. 385)
22 Chalfont St Peter	40 missing	58 Gosford & Water Eaton
23 Beaconsfield	41 missing	59 Yarnton
24 missing	42 missing	60 Begbroke
25 Beaconsfield	43 Tetsworth	61 missing
26 Chepping Wycombe	44 Great Haseley	62 Woodstock
27 High Wycombe	45 Tiddington with Albury	63 missing
28 missing	46 missing	64 Wootton
29 High Wycombe	47 missing	65 missing
30 West Wycombe	48 Wheatley	66 Glympton
31 missing	49 Holton	67 missing
32 West Wycombe	50 Forest Hill	68 Enstone
33 Piddington & Wheeler End	51 Thornhill