Milepost West Of Railway Bridge (Ngr Sx2052164801)

DOBWALLS AND TREWIDLAND

514/0/10023 A390 20-NOV-08 (South side) Milepost west of railway bridge (NGR S X2052164801)

II Cast iron milepost of c.1820, rectangular post with rounded head. Painted white with lettering picked out in black. The relief lettering, in Roman capitals, is cast in an arc around the distance. The west face reads LISKEARD 3 ½, the east face reads LOSTWITHIEL 8.

HISTORY: The milepost is one of a series erected by the Liskeard Turnpike Trust which was established by an Act of Parliament in 1769. Between 1823 and 1826 the trust set about improving its route from Liskeard to Plymouth and erected a number of cast iron posts both east and west of Liskeard; this example is one of a series of three to the west of Liskeard. The Liskeard Turnpike Trust was the only one in the county to use cast iron mileposts, and only on this part of its east-west route. This particular milepost was moved approximately 20 metres south circa, 1940 when the A390 was straightened to by-pass Treburgie Water.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The milepost west of the railway bridge at Treburgie Water is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

• This is an unusual survival of a cast iron milepost in a county where the majority of way markers were fashioned from granite. It is one of a number of cast iron mileposts erected by the Liskeard Turnpike Trust in the 1820s, the only trust to use this material for this purpose. * Although it was relocated during work to the A390 in the mid-C20, the distances displayed remain valid, and it survives intact. * It is a good example of an early C19 milepost, illustrating the standardisation of roads and the introduction of turnpikes to facilitate the transport needs of the increasingly industrial landscape of C19 Cornwall.