Meridian Stone
MERIDIAN STONE, FALMOUTH HOSPITAL
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1392642
- Date first listed:
- 09-Jul-2008
- List Entry Name:
- Meridian Stone
- Statutory Address:
- MERIDIAN STONE, FALMOUTH HOSPITAL
Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1392642
- Date first listed:
- 09-Jul-2008
- List Entry Name:
- Meridian Stone
- Statutory Address 1:
- MERIDIAN STONE, FALMOUTH HOSPITAL
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- MERIDIAN STONE, FALMOUTH HOSPITAL
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Cornwall (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Falmouth
- National Grid Reference:
- SW 79603 32978
Reasons for Designation
The Falmouth Meridian Stone, has been designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * The stone survives well in its original position * The stone retains its line of sight to St Keverne Church tower * The stone played an important role in the development of compass calibration * It may be the earliest surviving survey related base station * It is associated with the internationally important C19 Cornish mining industry * It represents tangible evidence of scientific philanthropy
Details
FALMOUTH
843-1/0/10016 FALMOUTH HOSPITAL 09-JUL-08 MERIDIAN STONE
II Meridian stone erected in 1837 by the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society. Large dressed block of granite with narrow chamfered step. The stone has four principal faces and a flat top with a small central hole. Each face bears an inscribed letter representing the principal points of the compass.
History: The stone was positioned on the meridian leading through St Keverne Church tower to provide a calibration tool for miners' surveying compasses known as dials. Magnetic north varies through time and therefore any surveys generated using only magnetic readings would be subject to an increasing degree of error, which in a mining context could be fatal. As a measure to reduce the inaccuracies, the Society erected this stone. Mining surveyors placed their dials in or over the hole in the centre of the stone and aligned the device precisely on St Keverne Church tower. By this means the difference between true and magnetic north could be measured and the dial calibrated accordingly. In subsequent years it was discovered that there were also difference between magnetism at the surface and underground and the stone may therefore have been used for a relatively short period.
A plaque formerly attached to the western face read "This pillar was erected in the Meridian of St Keverne by The Royal Polytechnic Society of Cornwall in the year 1837".
SOURCES Williams, J.B., Practical Geodesy, (1855), 193-205. Hoskold, H.D., A practical treatise on mining, land and railway surveying, engineering, &c., (1863), 1-7. http://gge.unb.ca/PhotoAlbum/1996/Jack/JackPillar.gif Accessed 28th May 2008 http://gge.unb.ca/MT/Events/Commemoration.pdf Accessed 28th May 2008
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION The Falmouth Meridian Stone, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * The stone survives well in its original position * The stone retains its line of sight to St Keverne Church tower * The stone played an important role in the development of compass calibration * It may be the earliest surviving survey related base station * It is associated with the internationally important C19 Cornish mining industry * It represents tangible evidence of scientific philanthropy
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 504878
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 01-Jul-2026 at 01:06:50.
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