Goostrey Footpaths Group - Goostrey Footpaths Group

Signing the Footpaths around Goostrey

“New signs put Goostrey walkers on the right path” announced the local newspaper, when oak signposts were installed at the start of all Goostrey footpaths in September 1996. Out with the old...

The new signs carried destination and distance information, unlike the tatty rusting metal signs they replaced.

Funding was secured by Goostrey Parish Council from the County Council’s “Parish Paths Partnership”, then handed on to the Goostrey Footpaths Group, now just 2 years old.

The Footpaths Group designed the signs, organised the manufacture from local Cheshire oak, and installed them, completing the work in September 1996.

The signs are made in traditional Cheshire style, with the arms tenoned and pinned into the posts. Hand carving the lettering for ten signs was somewhat daunting, so the lettering was done with a router and lettering templates at a country workshop near Chester.

...In with the new

The “engraving” was initially blacked to make the signs easy to read, and as the posts have aged, natural dirt has maintained the readabilty.

Ten years down the track, all are still in place and doing the job. Just one arm has had to be replaced - a short-grained bit of oak, that!

Though not quite as romantic as the rhyming signposts around Arley, 9 miles to the north, the Goostrey posts tell walkers what they want to know:

Where the path starts
Where it goes to
How far it is

There was debate at the time whether distances should be in miles or kilometres - this was a current topic regarding road signs in 1996.

In 2006 the Government has re-opened the debate, but Goostrey is still comfortable with miles. And we are proud that visitors can easily find there way around our paths.