Blink and you’ll miss it, but an 18th century milestone in Northumberland has been newly listed for its role in the defence of northern England against the Scots.
Now almost invisible against an old stone garden wall in a housing development at Heddon on the Wall, the one-metre-high sandstone pillar is inscribed with the number ‘7.’ It was erected between 1751 and 1757 as part of major investment in building the Military Road in response to the Second Jacobite Rising of 1745.
The rising was a significant threat to the monarchy by Bonnie Prince Charlie – Charles Edward Stewart, son and heir of James II. He had invaded from Scotland, seized Carlisle and was heading south in November without challenge because Field Marshall George Wade and his troops were stuck in Newcastle, hampered by poor roads and bad weather.
