Milestone Immediately In Front Of Cottage Wall At Top Of Tresowgar Lane

This is a granite milestone dating from 1830, situated immediately in front of a cottage wall on the pavement, on the east side of the B3275 road at the top of Tresowgar Lane, near Probus. The milestone is triangular in plan, with a flat top and chamfered edges. It stands 0.85 metres high and 0.55 metres wide. Two cast iron plates are set flush with the dressed stone on the road-facing sides. The left plate is inscribed "TRURO 5 FALMOUTH 15 ½", and the right plate reads "BODMIN 19 ¼ LONDON 245". The typefaces on the two plates are different. The milestone and plates are painted white, with black lettering. A benchmark is carved into the left face beneath the plate.

The milestone’s historical context relates to the development of Cornwall’s road network. The first Cornish turnpike was established in 1754, followed by the creation of several new Turnpike Trusts in the subsequent decade, leading to the construction of new roads and the erection of milestones. In 1828, new roads were commissioned to improve the passage between Falmouth and London. This milestone is one of a series of twelve, eleven of which still exist, starting in Truro and heading north-east towards Fraddon.

A new route was built in 1835 to avoid a steep hill, impacting some of the distances displayed on the milestone. Discrepancies in distance are noted on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1880, with corrected distances appearing on the second edition map of 1907, suggesting the milestone was fitted with new plates sometime between these dates, most likely in 1889 when the County Council assumed road maintenance responsibilities.

The milestone is designated at Grade II for its intactness as a good example of an early 19th-century milestone, its historic interest demonstrating the development of the road network, and its group value in connection with the ten surviving milestones along the road between Truro and Fraddon.