The Old Milestone
Situated on Newry Street outside the supermarket, the milestone shows 56 Irish miles to Dublin. This was an old Irish unit of distance equal to 1.273 statute miles. A law was passed in 1592 that a mile was 5,280 feet, the statute mile. In Ireland, however, a mile was 6,720 feet, 1,440 feet longer than a British mile, hence the term “Irish miles”. It lends its name to the Milestone supermarket and the restaurant Loft 56.