Quarter Milestone in Benløse
When Ole Rømer measured the roads of Denmark in the 1690s using his surveyor’s wheel (mile cart), wooden posts were placed as markers for every quarter mile (1.883 km). Later, these posts were placed on small mounds, and stone markers began to be carved from large boulders found nearby.
After the road network had been straightened and improved under King Frederik V and King Christian VII by the French engineer Jean Marmillod, grand marble obelisks were erected to mark full and half miles. The quarter-mile posts were mostly reused—especially on Zealand—flipped upside down and engraved with royal monograms and distance markings.
These quarter-mile stones (known as fjerdingpæle) remained standing long after the elegant marble posts had crumbled away and been replaced by granite milestones.
In Ringsted, a quarter-mile marker still stands at Benløse Runding, indicating 7¾ miles to the zero point at Copenhagen’s Western Gate.
All milestones were officially protected in 1967.
Read more at wiki.ringstedhistorie.dk