http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/1455/st...shcamera630.jpg

s.g.d.

Well, it's a very elaborate bench mark, but beyond that I don't know. The pine needles and the brickwork made me think of the Slang, but I've just been out in the rain with a torch, and that rules that out. The OS bench mark database hasn't been much help. Possibly the feet and inches refers to something buried underground? This will need some more thought.

Don't know where it is but my guess is that it is a marker post for something running underneath (or at least used to). Considering that it is of the reign of our Queen, but perhaps in the earlier decade or two of Her reign, and that there were lots of public utility companies at the time, I would hazard a guess at either phone or electricity.

I walked round all the places that I thought it could be this evening (sorting office, prison, Howard Street, BT building on Town Walls, old fire station on Longden Coleham) - no luck. Am I anywhere close?

There are some similar items on Flickr, not that it is giving me any clues!

Could be in the Frankwell/Mountfields area? Or Pig Trough?

Frankwell is getting warmer.

s.g.d.

Somewhere around Copthorne Barracks?

Nearer the back than the front of the barracks.

s.g.d.

Barracks Lane then?

I've had a good look along Barracks Lane today and not seen it there. "Nearer the back than the front"? It is on a public road?

Did you look down Nealor's Lane?

I don't remember seeing it on Nealor's Lane, and I have been down there with a camera on a 'Passages Outside The Town Centre' mission a couple of times. However, it will be worth looking again - hopefully tomorrow morning!

Found it! It's on The Mount, on the left-hand pavement going out of Shrewsbury, between Nealor's Lane and Barracks Lane.

I've driven, cycled and walked up there so many times, but never noticed it before. It is well disguised against the concrete, and the face is angled slightly downwards, so you do need to be looking out for it.

Well done! Isn't it amazing what we pass by without really noticing?

I don't know what is for though,perhaps electricity or water.

s.g.d.

Walking down The Mount this evening, I noticed three more of these markers - on the left-hand side of the road going out of town between Barracks Lane and the turn for Copthorne Park. Not all that easy to spot unless you are looking out for them.

Are they identical? how will I sleep tonight knowing that they are out there?

Looks like a walk is in order tomorrow evening.

s.g.d.

I think the one you photographed is the best preserved of the lot, but they all have the inward curved corners at the top and the broad arrow. I think one of them is missing the feet and inches plate (or maybe it was just worn, I was in a hurry to get into town before the shops shut, so didn't look all that closely).

There are also a few oval shaped metal plates, each with two numbers on them, fixed low down to the walls on that side of the road - too low to be house numbers.

There's a page about milestones on the The Mount Residents' Group website, but I can't find anything about these markers on the web. There's also a couple on Flickr (photo 1) and (photo 2) but none in Shrewsbury!