Erected to inform travellers how far they have come and how far they still have to go, milestones are a relic of a time when life moved more slowly. This book tells the story of milestones and the technology they reflect, as well as road measurement. It uses the great variety of designs and styles to argue the historical importance of conservation and to illustrate the compelling fascination of the subject.
Mervyn Benford has worked in education all his professional life and has a consuming interest in history.

Concerned at the rate at which evidence of the past disappears, often inadequately recorded, he believes that the understanding of history, the ability to understand cause and effect, to interpret evidence and to recognise what changes and what does not, are all central to an effective society.