Milestone East Side Of B3275, 140M Ne Of Moorlands

This milestone was erected in 1830 as part of a new road designed by William McAdam for the Truro Turnpike Trust. It is located on the east side of the B3275, 140 metres northeast of Moorlands. The milestone is constructed of granite and has a triangular plan, standing approximately 0.60 metres high with a flat top. It features iron plates cast by the Perran Foundry Company affixed to its front faces. The left-hand (north) plate displays the distances to Truro (9 miles), Falmouth (19 ½ miles) in serif capitals, while the right-hand plate shows the distances to Bodmin (15 ¼ miles) and London (241 miles) in sans serif capitals, with black lettering.

The new road connected Truck Hill through Probus, Ladock, and St Enoder parishes to Penhale (now Fraddon), enabled by a drainage method developed by William McAdam and his father, John Loudon McAdam. The Truro Turnpike Order Book records that Benjamin Bowden was commissioned to create the triangular stone milestones at a cost of 13s each, later raised to 15s. The plates, manufactured by Perran Foundry for £11 2s 0d, recorded distances to London.

Over time, changes in road plans rendered the distances to Bodmin inaccurate. Ordnance Survey mapping demonstrates that these plates were not corrected until after the Truro Turnpike Trust was dissolved in 1874 and the route came under the control of the County Council. The route served as the main A39 until the 1990s, when a new section of the A39 was built, replacing the Tresillian Valley Road which it had superseded in the 1830s.

The milestone is designated at Grade II for its historic interest as a representative example of a pre-1840 milestone on a historic turnpike road and for its intactness, remaining in its original location.