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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Mark Brown North of England correspondent

Stones made for Victorian project to help Irish workers given listed status

Travellers' rest stone by side of the road
Many of the stones now sit in obscurity next to roads, such as this one by the Bridgewater canal in Grappenhall, near Warrington. Photograph: Alun Bull/The Historic England Archive

They are found on busy road junctions, a traffic island and a petrol station forecourt and have been passed by countless numbers of walkers, runners, cyclists and drivers without a second glance.

But “hiding in plain sight” are fascinating “travellers’ rest” stones between Liverpool and Manchester that tell a largely forgotten story of 19th-century ingenuity, compassion for migrant workers and a Victorian version of crowdfunding.

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