Guide Post At Junction With Gipsy Lane

PORTHLEVEN

631-1/0/10009 Guide Post at junction with Gipsy Lane 14-FEB-11

II Guide post, erected in the 1830s by Reverend John Hughes.

EXTERIOR: it is triangular in plan and comprises a dressed granite monolith with pyramidal head and two inscribed faces. The east face is inscribed: SITHNEY and the south face is inscribed: PENROSE / PORTHLEVEN / HELSTON. Under each name is an incised hand pointer below which is an incised dividing line that resembles a squat diamond. The top part of the stone is painted white with the lettering picked out in black paint. An Ordnance Survey benchmark has been carved at the base of the east face.

HISTORY: In 1832 the ownership of the Penrose estate passed to the Reverend John Rogers (1778-1856), who subsequently carried out a number of alterations to the manor house and estate grounds. The alterations included the erection of three guide posts that were designed to direct travellers to two separate locations from the Helston to Penzance turnpike road. The first location was southwards, to the manor house with the second location being Sithney, situated to the north of the turnpike road; it is possible that Rogers was marking a route from his home to the local parish church at Sithney Churchtown. This post is the middle one of the three, of which the other two are listed at Grade II; the northern post is located at the junction of the A394 and Gipsy Lane with the southern post located at the junction of Porthleven Lane and Squires Lane.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The guide post at the junction between Torleven Road and Gipsy Lane, Porthleven, is designated at Grade II, for the following principal reasons: * Architectural interest: it is a good example of a pre-1840 guide post * Intactness: it is intact and stands in its original position * Rarity: it is an unusual example of a guide post that was erected by a private landowner rather than a turnpike trust to give the distance to a country estate * Group value: it has group value with two other listed guide posts that were erected by the Rev. John Rogers on the Penrose estate