SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

There is also this unusual marker. There's two of them, one is near the Oakwood clock & the other near the Whitehouse on Wetherby rd. Would G.R mean King George? Is it a mile post/Boundry marker & whats the F T I N mean?

GR is George rex. ft in is feet and inches. not sure what its a marker post for but the ft in would indicate the distance to whatever its marking i guess. having had another look at the pic i wonder if it is a benchmark given that its got the half burried arrow at the bottom? the feet and inches would be the level above ordanance datum.

Thanks Bigpants. I've only ever seen these 2 & there both at Roundhay. Infact there so small i've walked passed them for years & never noticed them.

I seems to me that there is something missing from this marker. "ft in" certainly stands for Feet and Inches. presumably the markers were mass produced in this form and then an enamel plate was attached with the actual distance (e.g. 9 6 to designate 9ft 6 in) on it. You can see where such a plate was attached. G. R. is King George - the fifth (reigned 1910-1936) we can assume. The previous King George died in 1830 and the marker does not look as old as that . George the sixth (reigned 1936 - 1952) would have been designated ' G VI R' to distinguish him from his father.

It's a solid piece. It's no more than 10'' square. I can't really tell what it's made of. There's no sign of rust or paint. This one is on Wetherby road opposite side to the Whitehouse & the other is near the Oakwood clock on Gledhow lane. I wonder if it's exclusive to the Roundhay boundary area?

A new 'format' on Weetwood Lane. There is a stretch where there is one of these every twenty yards or so, although the numbers on them seem to go up, as you walk down hill, which didn't make sense to me.

& an older one on Headingley Lane...

munki wrote: A new 'format' on Weetwood Lane. There is a stretch where there is one of these every twenty yards or so, although the numbers on them seem to go up, as you walk down hill, which didn't make sense to me. GPO is post office and is marked on all the apparatus from the days when telephones were operated by the post office (eg pre BT). id guess these markers refer to the distance to a hidden cable or duct

Aha! Good thinking.

bigpants wrote: munki wrote: A new 'format' on Weetwood Lane. There is a stretch where there is one of these every twenty yards or so, although the numbers on them seem to go up, as you walk down hill, which didn't make sense to me. GPO is post office and is marked on all the apparatus from the days when telephones were operated by the post office (eg pre BT). id guess these markers refer to the distance to a hidden cable or duct Hey all, I'm new to this. Some interesting stuff on here.That GPO Marker is to indicate the position of what they call a "copuling". It is a buried underground box, of concrete construction with a concrete lid. Those sorts of markers are usually at the side of the footpath, and if you stand at the marker and face towards where the letterin is, the coupling is buried at a distance from that point out into the path. i.e. if it says 9ft, it is 9ft into the path away from the marker. And you're right, telephone cables still run through these things, although with age, faults develop and they are dug out and newer brick-built boxes with removable concrete/metal lids are built over them.