Dorset's Traditional Fingerposts: A Local Signpost Survey

 Briefing for the Parish Council by S Tilley — field survey, July 2026

1. Purpose

This briefing summarises a short field survey of traditional Dorset fingerposts around the Winterbourne Abbas, Winterbourne Steepleton, Compton Valence, Littlebredy and Portesham area, undertaken in July 2026. It sets the findings against the county-wide picture, flags the posts most in need of attention, and sets out the practical, low-cost routes available to the Council for getting them restored.

2. Background: why Dorset's fingerposts matter

Fingerposts date from the turnpike era; the General Turnpike Act 1773 required trustees to mark the distance to the nearest town, and responsibility passed to individual county councils after the Motor Car Act 1903/4 (Dorset CPRE, 2025). Dorset developed its own distinctive design — a central metal post carrying white wooden fingers, topped by a white roundel giving the location name and a six-figure map reference. The Ministry of Transport specifically asked Dorset and the West Riding of Yorkshire to trial the grid-reference roundel, making the style unique to these two counties (Dorset Fingerpost Restorers, 2026).

The county has lost the great majority of its stock. Of roughly 1,300–1,500 fingerposts recorded in the 1950s, only around 700–800 survive today. Many were removed in 1940 to deny guidance to an invading army and never reinstated; others have fallen to traffic damage or simply rotted away. Dorset Council no longer holds a statutory remit to repair them, so their survival now depends on parishes, volunteers and small grants (Dorset National Landscape, 2026; Dorset CPRE, 2025).

3. What the survey found

Eight fingerposts were surveyed, including two separate posts (972 and 973) that share the Steepleton Pond roundel (622902) in Winterbourne Steepleton. Six are traditional Dorset posts retaining a white roundel with grid reference; one (the Compton Valence / Winterbourne Abbas junction, sheet ref 218) has an unrecorded roundel and shows mismatched, weathered fingers, and one (975, Littlebredy) is a simpler post with no roundel.

Separately, six fingerposts previously recorded along the A35 corridor have disappeared entirely and no longer survive — losses continue on main routes such as the A35, which forms part of the core area of this survey.

4. The wider Register

These posts sit within Sheet 21 of the county's fingerpost inventory, covering the parishes around Compton Valence, Winterbourne Abbas, Winterbourne Steepleton, Littlebredy, Kingston Russell, Frampton, Bradford Peverell, Stratton, Charminster, Winterborne St Martin and Winterborne Monkton. The register classifies each recorded location as an extant traditional fingerpost, a 1990s-standard replacement, a site where only the roundel survives, or a former site where the post has been lost altogether.

On this sheet alone, around 13 traditional fingerposts remain standing, a similar number of locations now carry modern standard-compliant signs, two sites retain only their roundel with the fingers gone, and a further significant number of former locations are recorded as lost entirely. This local pattern mirrors the county-wide trend: losses outnumber survivals, even in an area as rich in fingerposts as this one.

5. Why they are at risk

•       Wartime removal: most losses date to 1940, when posts were taken down to deny guidance to an invading force and were never replaced (Dorset CPRE, 2025).

•       Traffic damage: roadside posts are vulnerable to vehicle strikes; Dorset CPRE's restoration of the Red Post at Horsey Knapp near Evershot required relocating the post away from the carriageway after repeated damage (Dorset CPRE, 2025).

•       No statutory duty: Dorset Council no longer has a remit to maintain fingerposts, so repair now depends entirely on parish and volunteer effort (Dorset National Landscape, 2026).

•       Incorrect repairs: some posts have been patched with non-traditional materials or lettering, which the Dorset Fingerpost Project actively tries to reverse.

6. Support available to the Council

•       Dorset National Landscape's Fingerpost Project: has coordinated restoration since 2010; over 400 of the county's roughly 800 remaining posts have been restored so far, largely through parish-led "Fingerpost Champion" schemes (Dorset National Landscape, 2026).

•       Dorset Fingerpost Restorers: run by volunteer Roger Bond, this group provides free how-to guides for dismantling, refurbishing and reassembling posts, and can source new oak fingers and cast lettering/roundels from Coles Castings foundry (dorsetfingerpostrestorers.co.uk).

•       Dorset CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England) small grants: up to £200 per post, no match funding required and no application form — a request need only come from a Parish Council representative with the post's location and an estimated cost (Dorset CPRE, 2025).

•     Men's Sheds: local Men's Sheds groups can often supply the practical woodworking skills needed for refurbishment.

•   Precedent: Loders and Hilton parish councils have both run successful, volunteer-led restorations with Dorset National Landscape's support, and are cited as model "Fingerpost Champion" projects.

7. Suggested Actions from May 2024

•      1. Consider relocating the tourist-information signage currently clipped to the Steepleton Pond post onto a separate post, so the historic fingerpost is not obscured.

•      2. Contact Compton Valence PC. Completed April 2025 — fingerpost repaired with new finger.

•      3. Contact Frampton PC. Completed May 2026 — PC are working with Roger Bond.

•   4. Steepleton Pond post 972 re-sited with assistance from Roger Bond and completed by Dorset Council, July 2026.

•    5. Contact DC Highways to consider an extra post for advertising signage relating to fingerpost 973. Refused as reduces visibility. Agreed August 2026

•   6. Contact Michelle Harding, Chesil PC, re fingerpost 975 (Littlebredy) — confirm whether it falls within their parish and initiate repair. Awaiting response as 12/08/2026

•    7. Contact Michelle Harding, Chesil PC, re fingerposts 675, 000 and 933 — confirm that these fall within their parish. DC Cllr Sally Holland. Littlebredy is not part of Chesil PC, has no PC, previous decisions sole discretion of Sir P Williams, now Belport. No further action required. (This also applies to disused PROWs that run on along the outside of our parish boundary.

Sources

Dorset CPRE (2025). "Dorset CPRE Grant Scheme funds restoration of 160 Fingerposts." 17 February 2025. dorset-cpre.org.uk/news/fingerpost-grant-scheme

Dorset CPRE. "Fingerposts: Dorset Icons." dorset-cpre.org.uk/what-we-care-about/better-places-to-live/fingerposts-2

Dorset National Landscape (2026). "Fingerpost Champions." dorset-nl.org.uk/fingerpost-champions

Dorset National Landscape. "Dorset Fingerpost Project." dorset-nl.org.uk/project/dorset-fingerpost-project

Dorset Fingerpost Restorers. "History" and "Useful information." dorsetfingerpostrestorers.co.uk

Field survey photographs, coordinates and "Fingerposts in Dorset, Sheet 21" register map, July 2026.

Acknowledgements

See dorsetfingerpostrestorers.co.uk, produced with assistance from Dorset National Landscape.

•       Roger Bond (Normtec): lead advisor. roger@normtec.co.uk / dorsetfingerposts@gmail.com

•       James Purkiss: "Fingerposts in Dorset, Sheet 21" map and index. dorsetfingerposts@gmail.com