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Restoring Somerset’s historic signposts
We are proud to offer funding to help Parish Councils restore historic signposts across Somerset
Modern road signage was introduced across England in the 1960s but Somerset was one of just four counties that did not remove their old fingerpost signs. As a result, we now have a wonderful back catalogue of these iconic and much loved features. Unfortunately, Somerset County Council no longer has the funds to repair these signposts. This means they are slowly deteriorating unless local communities are able to take on their maintenance.
The early projects – focussed around Hinkley C
In 2018 we received a grant from the Hinkley C Community Fund to spend in Parishes within a 10 mile radius of Hinkley C over 2 years. Thanks to the pandemic, things took a bit longer than planned but the project is now complete and we were able to help with the restoration of 20 fingerposts across 5 parishes.
Stogursey Parish have restored 16 posts in their parish and we have supported work on 6 of them and we have funded work on a further 4 in Woolavington and one in Mark. We helped with 5 posts in Williton and 4 in Spaxton. It is down to the determination and hard work of Parish Council volunteers that these wonderful landmarks have been restored to their former glory.
We now commit our own funds each year to help communities to restore signposts across Somerset
CPRE Somerset Trustees set aside a small fund each year to keep the project going – so now we are helping Parishes Councils across the whole county.
In 2023 we helped with the restoration of 4 posts in Marston Magna and Fivehead.
In 2024, we helped with 1 post in Milborne Port, 3 in Ilminster, 2 in Fivehead and 2 in Lottisham.
In 2025, we helped to restore 2 posts in Curry Rivel, 1 in Crewkerne, 1 in North Curry, 1 in Greinton, 2 in Kingston St Mary and 2 in Winsham.
In 2026, so far, we have supported Milborne Port PC with restoration of 1 post and Chilthorne Domer PC with 2 posts.
