Boundary marker, Shrewsbury & Hereford Railway, inscribed "S & H Ry", stone, about 1846.

Boundary marker of the Shrewsbury & Hereford Railway, probably dating from about 1849 to 1853.

Boundary markers like this were used to clearly identify the limits of railway land and to distinguish them from adjacent property. They were typically used where it was difficult to install a fence or hedge, where there was a risk of encroachment by other landowners, or where there had been a dispute over land ownership. They also delineated one railway company’s territory from another’s, for instance to make it clear who was responsible for maintaining a particular stretch of line.

The Shrewsbury & Hereford Railway was authorised by an Act of Parliament passed in 1846. It was built to connect the county towns of Shropshire and Herefordshire and to link the industries of north west England with mines in south Wales and around Bristol. The first section, between Shrewsbury and Ludlow opened in 1852 and the line to the city of Hereford was completed in December 1853.

The line was leased to the Great Western Railway and London & North Western Railway, which jointly took it over in 1871.

This boundary marker is a piece of dressed, rounded stone with the company initials, “S & H Ry” inscribed in two lines of Roman lettering on its face. The majority of the stone would have been buried to make it difficult for it to be dug up and removed, so the base which would have been underground, is more roughly finished.