Milestone Adjacent To 'Holme Park' (Ngr Sx3202183794)

LAUNCESTON

660-1/0/10005 TRESMARROW ROAD 05-JUN-07 Milestone adjacent to 'Holme Park' (NG R SX3202183794)

II Later C19 milestone of white painted granite; rectangular in plan rising to a point at the top. The front (south) face, edges and top of the stone have been dressed. Black painted incised lettering on the south face: 'LAUNCESTON 1 / BODMIN 21 / CAMELFORD 15'.

HISTORY: This milestone is one of a series erected by the Launceston Turnpike Trust which was established in 1760 by an Act of Parliament to raise tolls to pay for the `widening and keeping in repair several roads leading to Launceston'. According to the applicant this milestone is similar in style to milestones erected in the east of the county in the later C19 following the demise of the Turnpike Trusts, but it also matches the milestones erected by the Launceston Trust in 1859.

SOURCES: The Milestone Society (2007): http://www.milestone-society.co.uk/

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: Milestones are of special interest as one of the few physical remains of national and local historic road use. They reflect the standardisation of roads and the introduction of turnpikes. This later C19 milestone situated on the original turnpike road to the West from Launceston (the old A30), now Tresmarrow Road, has special interest as a physical marker of the area's changing transport history. It also has group value with other listed milestones on this route.

SX3202583796