English Heritage urges local councils to save fingerpost signs

English Heritage is issuing a rallying cry to save traditional traffic direction signs under threat from neglect and decay.

There may be opportunities for design groups as local councils seek out consultation on the grass-roots initiatives to repair and reintroduce fingerposts under regional schemes.

It is campaigning local authorities to take the matter into their own hands and encouraging groups to carry out audits of fingerposts in the area.

English Heritage will not directly be funding the project, but a cash injection could come from the Local Heritage Initiative, run by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Nationwide Building Society, says a spokeswoman.

Fingerposts were introduced in 1669. Local authorities had discretion over specifications, which resulted in a ‘rich variety of local styles’. This has reinforced local character, with signs featuring denials in the form of discs, rings, balls and pyramids marked with county names and map grid references.