The Greenwich Meridian

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One of over 60 similar marks installed in the London Borough of Waltham Forest as part of the millennium celebrations. Taking the form of a compass rose; they were supplied as preformed thermoplastic sheets and sited with the aid of a detailed map provided by the Borough Engineer. The relative orientation of the concentric circles within each marking varies slightly from one location to the next. Crudely aligned to the Meridian with the aid of a compass, the compass roses were fused to the ground by the application of heat from a gas burner. By the end of the marking process, virtually every road in the Borough crossed by the Meridian had either one of the new marks or one of the earlier specially designed paving slabs. Of these there were eight, four dating from 1963 and four from 1984. Just two roads were marked (probably in error) with both a slab and a compass rose.

Originally intended to remain in place for the millennium year only, the compass roses were never formally removed. Their current condition varies considerably from mark to mark. By 2017, roughly 40% of them were no longer in existence. Of the remainder, none were complete, but one or two showed only small signs of wear. At the other extreme, some were so heavily worn that they consisted of little more than a smudge of yellow and blue. James Lane was subject to temporary parking restrictions during the 2012 Olympics. Part of the Meridian mark was destroyed when one of the paving slabs was removed to enable a parking sign to be erected. The sign has since been removed; so too has the Meridian mark which was lost when the pavement was resurfaced at some point between August 2013 and July 2014.