Story behind the red signpost on the A31 near Bere Regis in Dorset

It's a traditional metal fingerpost reminiscent of a more leisurely age when the roads weren't clogged up with so much street furniture.

But it's a bit of an oddity - because it's red!

With four fingers and a map reference it's certainly not the only one left in the county - it has three lesser known sisters near Evershot, Sherborne and Hewood in the very far west of Dorset.

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But the red colour of the fingerposts doesn't relate to gory tales of blood being spilt at the locations hundreds of years ago.

It's more likely the posts were erected at important local crossroads as guides for travellers.

Further to this theory, it's believed this red post on the A31 indicated the direction of a farm where convicts being marched by guards from Dorchester to Portsmouth for overseas transportation spent the night.

This explains why the farm in question on the Bloxworth road and the pub in nearby Winterborne Zelston are named after Botany Bay in Sydney, Australia.

For more wonderful old photos and memories and quirky details of Dorset's history - join our Facebook nostalgia group We Grew Up in Weymouth and Portland, which you can find here.