TIL: Fingerposts
Today I learned about the social media phenomenon that is #FingerpostFriday. It involves people posting images of fingerposts. But I’d never heard that name used for the things I simply call signposts.
According to Wikipedia, fingerposts are a “a traditional type of sign post primarily used in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, consisting of a post with one or more arms, known as fingers, pointing in the direction of travel to places named on the fingers.”
But Richard Webber wrote a more detailed article about these British treasures in Country Life Magazine in November 2021. According to him, “these items of road furniture are increasingly taken for granted and neglected, despite being a valuable part of our rural and cultural heritage.”
He reminds us that fingerposts were all removed during WW2, as part of plans drawn up to counter a Nazi invasion. The idea being that any German soldiers who set foot on British soil had better bring their own maps.
So today I learned a new word for something that’s been part of my landscape for the whole of my life, and to which I never paid much attention. I won’t make that mistake again!
Unless otherwise stated, © Copyright Emma Doughty 2023. Published on theunconventionalgardener.com.
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