Guide stoop

In the days when roads were in even worse condition than we find them today many travellers tried to keep to the higher groundwhere this allowed a more direct route and there were a lot of tracks and paths across the Derbyshire and Yorkshire moors. In 1697 and Act was passed which decreed that in the more remote parts where two or more paths intersected, the local Surveyors were to erect guideposts or guide stoops showing the way to the nearest market town. There was no defined standard and the survivors show a great variety in lettering and size. Some incorporate a pointing hand alongside the place name.

This example is on Beeley Moor and points the way to Bakewell and Sheffield.