You know when road signs say (for example) "Brighton 43 miles"...

[Mr Burns]

I thought it was the town hall. At least that what a man there told me years and years ago on a school trip. I suppose town hall and pavilion are about the same distance from afar

 

[Titanic]

People do seem to THINK quite different things, don't they?

I thought London was Big Ben, and Brighton was The Palace Pier, and it was about 52 miles.

 

[shaun_rc]

Well, this maybe answers the question about London, from the BBC website:

Whether it is the distance from Brighton, Manchester or Glasgow, the actual point for measuring the distance to and from London is located at Charing Cross, Westminster.

Why Charing Cross? Even though it is quite central it is not because of its geographical location, the real reason goes back over 700 years to the reign of Edward I.

In the year 1290 King Edward was in Scotland on an important trip awaiting the arrival of his wife, Queen Eleanor. On her journey to meet him she was taken ill with a fever and died shortly after at a manor house near Lincoln.
The Queen's body was to be taken from Lincoln to Westminster Abbey for a state burial. The grief stricken King decided that twelve memorial crosses would be installed at each stopping point of her funeral procession.

The twelve sites for memorial crosses were:
Lincoln, Grantham, Stamford, Geddington, Hardingstone, Stony Stratford, Woburn, Dunstable, St. Albans, Waltham, Cheapside (West Cheap), Charing Cross.

The original cross was south of Trafalgar Square where the statue of King Charles I now stands. A plaque can be found on the floor behind the statue stating that mileage distances on road signage are still measured from this point.

Only three of the original crosses remain at Geddington, Hardingstone and Waltham. The cross outside Charing Cross Station is a replica made in 1863 of the original that stood at the original site a few hundred metres away. Historians believe the original was not as ornate as the one seen today. The original memorials were large stone structures towering many feet high with carvings of the queen on each of the sides.

No more debate about London, this is the answer.

It's about 50 yards from where I work, and I've seen the plaque in the pavement. It's the site of the original Charing Cross, where the statue of Charles I on his horse now stands, facing down Whitehall towards the statue of Oliver Cromwell outside Parliament at the other end.

 

[Sloe Joe]

Miles from the Amex ?

 

[BensGrandad]

I was always told that London was from Marble Arch and Brighton was from The Pavillion.

 

[sully]

What I do know is that the measurer who did the signs for Storrington along the A283 from the East thought Washington was Storrington, as they're all 2 miles out!

 

[beorhthelm]

seems alot of differing views. i understood there is no hard rule, its a prominant public building near the geographic centre, which would explain the different view of town hall, post office, church. its probably changed over time too, as building move or lose prominance. or who's measuring it.

for Brighton i understood it was the Pavilion, but i reckon thats just the sort of thing they would say in their brouchre, cant see the AA measuring it up to the front door.

London its said was Charing Cross/Trafalgar Square, but also heard that this is a myth. another suggestion, not here so far, is that its the Monument ( though thats no good for 1666 pre-fire of London). Charing Cross doesnt really make much sence as its not actually in the City of London. The story of Edward III sounds good, but Westminster was a country retreat in 13th centry, its 1.5 miles from St Pauls, near the centre of the city as it was then.

look at the modern road maps. the main trunk roads into London dont all meet at a single point, they sort of merge together. A1 goes through to St Pauls, A2 goes to Monument, merging to the A3 for the last half mile through Borough. A4 goes through to Aldwych then merges to the A40 (which passes through Marbel Arch) for the final steps to St Pauls again. A5 stops at Marble Arch. A10 and A11 seems to stop at Aldgate, though you can see how they might go through the major City roads to St Pauls. A23 for the record goes into the round about south side of westminister bridge. The point of all this is none of the major roads into London even go near Charing Cross and St Pauls seems a stronger candidate.

so i dont reckon theres a definitive, catch all answer. however i do know on some maps there are little black line markers with a number in between, which are the miles between the the black markers. i think one of these will usually show up in the town/city centre, so you'll probably find some significant building at that point.

 

[fire&skill]

I thought it was the Clock Tower in Brighton

 

[shaun_rc]

so i dont reckon theres a definitive, catch all answer.

Apart from the plaque in the pavement at the original site of Charing Cross that says "this point is where mileages to and from London are measured"

 

[beardosh]

Sounds like a homework question for Simon mayos radio 2 show...

 

[withdeanwombat]

It's definitely the centre spot at Withdean,though I understand that many of these measurements used the central post office,if you remember them.

 

[beorhthelm]

Apart from the plaque in the pavement at the original site of Charing Cross that says "this point is where mileages to and from London are measured"

erm, thats hardly a definitve, catch all answer for other towns and cities is it?

but i do question the historical authenticity of the Charing Cross case, for reasons as explained, though it may have come to be the start point retrospectivly. its easy for Westminster council to plop a plaque down, similar things happen for other claims. what do the cartographers say?

to illustrate what i mean about Charing Cross, see this map of London c1300. The story of Edward III explains the presence of Charing Cross, it doesnt explain why tht would be used as a point from which to measure distance to London. (you can see the original A4, A40, A2/3, A10 and A11 coming in. i do love maps).

I do see the wiki on Charing Cross says it is the official central point from the 18th century. the reason seems because of its central geographic location, and nothing is mentioned about distance.

 

[chucky1973]

seems alot of differing views. i understood there is no hard rule, its a prominant public building near the geographic centre, which would explain the different view of town hall, post office, church. its probably changed over time too, as building move or lose prominance. or who's measuring it.

for Brighton i understood it was the Pavilion, but i reckon thats just the sort of thing they would say in their brouchre, cant see the AA measuring it up to the front door.

London its said was Charing Cross/Trafalgar Square, but also heard that this is a myth. another suggestion, not here so far, is that its the Monument ( though thats no good for 1666 pre-fire of London). Charing Cross doesnt really make much sence as its not actually in the City of London. The story of Edward III sounds good, but Westminster was a country retreat in 13th centry, its 1.5 miles from St Pauls, near the centre of the city as it was then.

look at the modern road maps. the main trunk roads into London dont all meet at a single point, they sort of merge together. A1 goes through to St Pauls, A2 goes to Monument, merging to the A3 for the last half mile through Borough. A4 goes through to Aldwych then merges to the A40 (which passes through Marbel Arch) for the final steps to St Pauls again. A5 stops at Marble Arch. A10 and A11 seems to stop at Aldgate, though you can see how they might go through the major City roads to St Pauls. A23 for the record goes into the round about south side of westminister bridge. The point of all this is none of the major roads into London even go near Charing Cross and St Pauls seems a stronger candidate.

so i dont reckon theres a definitive, catch all answer. however i do know on some maps there are little black line markers with a number in between, which are the miles between the the black markers. i think one of these will usually show up in the town/city centre, so you'll probably find some significant building at that point.

Well just for the effort you put in, i reckon you are right

 

[8ace]

The centre of Brighton is HB&B's residence.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I've found several different answers for London by Googling it, which is why I turned to the wisdom of NSC.

This is EXACTLY the sort of thing that Lord Bracknell would have the DEFINITIVE answer to.

I used to have a set of documents produced on foolscap paper on a Gestetner duplicator by the Southdown bus company which measured precisely the distance between every bus stop in their network (and the cumulative distances for each route). They used the information to calculate fares. Out of town routes were measured from Pool Valley.

 

[8ace]

The centre of Brighton is HB&B's residence.

Out of town routes were measured from Pool Valley.

Paul Valley, told you.

 

[Spanish Seagulls]

London's epicentre for the purposes of distance measurement is actually Marble Arch.

This is correct.

 

[The Large One]

Looking through the web, it appears that the answer seems to be it depends on which road you're coming in on.

If you're coming in from Brighton for example, you go up the A23, which (although A23 starts/finishes at Waterloo, just east of Westminster Bridge) takes you into central London via the A3, which starts in King William Street in The City. If you're coming in via the A4, its start/finish is Holborn Circus. The A5 starts at Marble Arch. And so on...

If you look via Google, or the AA, putting in 'London', routes and measurements seem to start at Parliament Square. Similarly, distances and routes from 'Brighton' seem to start at The Palace Pier.

Don't know if that helps anyone or not.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Stretches of the A22 and A26 in East Sussex have milestones showing the distance from Bow Bells.

This one is at Isfield:-

Some of the milestones also display the buckle badge of the Pelham family, like this one at Halland:-

Constructed by the Union Point to Langney Bridge Turnpike Trust in 1754.

The relief of a buckle at the top represents the Pelham family. In 1356 at the battle of Poitiers a local knight Sir John Pelham together with Sir Roger de la Warr captured Jean the King of France. Because of this Sir John was given the Kings belt buckle as a badge of honour. This badge can be seen on many churches and buildings in the area around Laughton showing the influence and power of the Pelham family

 

[philsussex]

Maybe this is a question for the 'Ask Uncle Buck' thread.

Could be cross checked on the 'Ask Frutos Anything' thread.