Milestone Approx 320M North-East Of Bake Farm

PELYNT

1043/0/10003 (Northeast side) 11-NOV-10 Milestone approx 320m north-east of Ba ke Farm

II DESCRIPTION: Milestone, erected in the early C18, removed in 1940 and re-erected in 2008. The granite stone is square on plan, has a flat-top, chamfered corners and stands 0.79 metres high by 0.3 metres wide. It is painted white with black lettering, the northern face is inscribed LANREATH / II; the eastern face is inscribed LOOE / V and the western face is inscribed FOWEY / IV. The southern face is inscribed with the incorrect spelling of Polperro and reads POLPERO / III. An Ordnance Survey benchmark has been carved on the northern face.

HISTORY: In 1697, under an Act of Parliament, Justices in Highway Sessions were authorised to require the Surveyors of Highways to set up direction stones or posts at cross highways. The milestone 320m north-east of Bake Farm, Pelynt, forms part of a resulting group of early C18 guidestones and milestones at road junctions in the area south of Liskeard, on the road between Looe and Fowey. The stones were erected along a section of the London to Penzance post road, marking a route across the River Fowey that avoided the use of the ferry. In 1863, under the Act for the Better Management of Highways in England (1862), the majority of Highway Boards in Cornwall replaced their old granite stones with more visible wooden fingerposts. However, the Trecan Gate Highway Board, who was responsible for the maintenance of roads in Pelynt civil parish, left their stones in place. On 30 May 1940 the Government ordered the defacing or removal of all milestones, which might aid an invading army. The stone was subsequently removed and after the Second World War was used as a gatepost to Cardwen Farmhouse, Pelynt. In January 2008 the milestone was returned to the crossroads and re-erected, for safety reasons, on the north-east side of the junction, rather than its original location on the south-east side.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The milestone at the Bake Cross Crossroads, approx 320m north-east of Bake Farm, Pelynt is designated at Grade II, for the following principal reasons: * Architectural interest: it is a good example of an early C18 milestone. * Historic interest: it acts as a witness to the impact of world events on our national story * Group value: it has strong group value with the eighteen surviving milestones and guidestones along the road between Looe and Fowey.