Walk around the more Dulwichy bits of south London and you're sure to come across signposts like the one above. Beautiful, aren't they? Largely redundant, these days, of course, with everyone following maps on their phones, but still a resplendent part of the streetscape we should all cherish.
The SE postcodes aren't the only part of London to sport unusual direction signs, however. We dug into our photo archive to present 15 instances of the fingerpost (with apologies to Iain Pears).
Chunky signs on the South Bank, dating from the 1970s/80s and once part of a wider scheme.A signpost in the Lee Valley Regional Park wayfinds the distant past, with directions to the Danelaw and Wessex, a boundary established in the time of Alfred the Great, and following the River Lea.A modern fingerpost outside London Bridge stationA charmingly rustic sign post ("Frog Pool") in Queen's Wood, Highgate.Until recently, Irish pub The Claddagh Ring in Hendon helpfully told us the distances to various Galway villages. The sign seems to have disappeared now, but an Irish phone kiosk remains within the beer garden.One of many National Cycle Network signposts installed by Sustrans across the country in 2000. This one's at Tripcock Ness near ThamesmeadA classic directional sign in Winchmore Hill.More classic designs in the same part of London. This time, Palmers GreenA dusk fingerpost in St James's Park is a perching place for pigeonsA celebrity fingerpost, pointing the way to Darwin's old house in the Borough of Bromley.If you follow the sign for 24,859 miles, you will arrive back at the sign (unless you're a flat-Earther...). The sign is on the Greenwich peninsula, and is one of the artworks on The Line, by artist duo Thomson & CraigheadA quaint sign near RichmondMore of a road sign than a fingerpost, but I couldn't resist including this old directional sign near ChathamSutton has one of London's most elaborate directional signs, nested around an old pub sign for The Cock
