The ancient origins of milestones

Milestones appeared in Hong Kong as part of the development of its early 20th Century transport network. As the economy and population took off at the turn of the last century, the government systematically built out a network of highways linking up market towns and villages to meet the growing need for transportation. Milestones were introduced as part of the highway infrastructure under the influence of British colonialism, as milestones had been used widely in the UK since the 18th Century as a road management tool.

However, milestones first appeared in Britain much earlier during the Roman period, when the Roman military built stone-paved roads to move troops and supplies more quickly, placing distance markers to help with time-keeping and efficiency. At every thousand paces (with one pace equalling two steps), they laid down a large stone cylinder. These became known as milestones, as the Latin for “thousand” was “mīlle”. One Roman mile was 1,618 yards, which was later revised to 1,760 yards to one standard English mile, roughly equivalent to 1.6km.  As a British colony, Hong Kong drew on this tradition, with British engineers setting standards for milestones and establishing them as an important part of the early highway network. 

Early Milestones

During the early part of the 20th Century, the government built the New Territories Circular Road, which started in Sham Shui Po and split into Tai Po Road heading east and Castle Peak Road heading west before meeting up in Sheung Shui. Milestones of a simple and practical design were placed along these highways. They usually consisted of triangular pillars of about one metre high made of durable and weather-resistant stone or concrete, making them easily recognizable. Distances were measured from the Star Ferry Pier in Tsim Sha Tsui, heading north up Nathan Road to where Castle Peak Road split from Tai Po Road. From there, one face of each stone marked the distance from Tsim Sha Tsui going clockwise, while the other side marked the distance going anti-clockwise. (The third side which faced away from the road was left blank.)  The sum of the two figures was always 56 ½ miles. 

The government also built roads branching off the Circular Road to link up nearby villages. Sha Tau Kok Road and Kam Tin Road, etc. were built between 1900 and 1920. These were also outfitted with milestones. For example, Sha Tau Kok Road linked Sha Tau Kok on the northeastern boundary with mainland China to Tai Po Road in Fanling. Milestones were placed at every mile on both sides of the road, showing distances from Sha Tau Kok in one direction and Fanling in the other, with left and right adding up to 6 3⁄4 miles. Kam Tin Road, which branches from Castle Peak Road at Au Tau and extends eastwards to Sheung Tsuen, also has milestones at every mile. 

In 1932, the government built Clear Water Bay Road, which started in Kowloon City and continued along today’s Prince Edward Road East and Choi Hung Road (both of which were originally part of Clear Water Bay Road) to the present day Clear Water Bay Road heading towards Sai Kung. Milestones were set up at every half mile, with the distance to the Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry Pier carved into the top, left and right sides of each column. 

New branch roads

After World War II, the government built more roads for civilian and military use, one of which was the Tai Po-Sha Tau Kok Road (today’s Ting Kok Road, Bride’s Pool Road and Luk Keng Road), starting from Kwong Fuk Bridge in Tai Po Market and passing by Shuen Wan, Tai Mei Tuk, Bride’s Pool, and Luk Keng, before joining up with Sha Tau Kok Road. Milestones were placed at every mile showing the distance to Tai Po. The government also built Fan Kam Road and Lam Kam Road to link Tai Po Road with Castle Peak Road . Both have milestones every mile, starting from their junctions with Tai Po Road.

To meet military and civilian needs, Route Twisk and Hiram’s Highway were built in the 1950s, branching off Castle Peak Road and Clear Water Bay Road respectively, with milestones measured from Tsim Sha Tsui Ferry Pier in the same manner as the main roads they split from. As Route Twisk was originally a military road, its milestones are rectangular rather than triangular.

The many uses of milestones

Besides telling drivers how far they have travelled, in the days of slower transportation, travellers relied on milestones to estimate their journey’s distance and time. Of the many milestones throughout Hong Kong, the ones on Tai Po Road and Castle Peak Road were the most widely used by the public. They provided important information for the postal and freight industries, helping them to calculate transportation time and cost. Locations near milestones were named after mileage numbers both informally and formally. 

Villagers living along highways used milestones as their mailing addresses, adding the name of their village or locality after the mile number; the address of  Cheung Shue Tan Village on Tai Po Road would be something like “Kon Hang, Mile 12 ½, Tai Po Road”. Both the government and private businesses named facilities after milestones, including Kadoorie Beach which is still marked as “Castle Peak Road 18 ¾ Milestone”, or the “7 ½ Milestone Tai Po Road Rest Garden”. The CDW Building was renamed “8 ½” after its Castle Peak Road location when it was converted into a shopping mall about a decade ago; likewise, the Chinese name of the old Green View Restaurant in Yau Kom Tau (Tsuen Wan) was the “9 Milestone Restaurant”, after the nearest milestone. 

(This article is written by contract researcher Ng Cheuk Hang.)