A WORCESTERSHIRE organisation which helps to protect the countryside has launched a campaign to save the much-neglected milestone.

And, as it concentrates its efforts on the Malvern area, it has appealed for public help to note down the traditional highway markers they see.

Milestone campaigner Mervyn Benford has joined forces with the Worcestershire branch of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) to source and then re-establish markers throughout the county.

"The first job is to find out how many there are," he explained. "I've seen one or two on the Ledbury road and one or two around Hanley Swan but they tend to be overgrown so people don't see them.

"We also tend to drive a bit faster than the old stagecoaches did and in that respect they don't tend to get noticed."

The markers count miles along major thoroughfares and are usually made of stone or metal.

Most were erected in the 17th and 18th Centuries, when Charles II wanted to establish the first national postal service.

In order to know how much money to charge for letters people needed to know the distances between towns.

Surveyor John Ogilby was commissioned to map all the major routes in England and Wales and a comprehensive set of maps was produced.

The CPRE says today's map-makers, Ordnance Survey, are less enthusiastic and claim they have no legal responsibility to map milestones.

Mr Benford added: "Some milestones they mark have disappeared while others that exist are not marked. It's very frustrating.

"It's my concern to publicise milestones because they are very interesting objects which are in need of some tender loving care."

Anyone who has any information on the milestones in their area should contact Mervyn Benford c/o Rupert Segar, Flaxen Hill House, Bishampton, Pershore WR10 2LZ.