Cattle stile at Pink Moors

Summary

Cattle stile, probably early C19.

Reasons for Designation

The cattle stile at Pink Moors, which probably dates to the early C19, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* for the use of local Carn Marth granite;
* as a good example of the distinctive stile-building traditions in Cornwall;

Historic interest:
* the stile is located on a potentially ancient footway, linking the two settlements to mining sites and possibly the parish church at St Day.

History

The landscape around St Day was once open downland: an ancient landscape with relict features such as sinuous boundaries, and field names and earthworks which suggest that here was once a scattering of small Iron Age and Bronze Age settlements. St Day itself is thought to have existed before it was recorded as ‘the town of St Trynyte’ in 1269, which itself predates by centuries the construction of the parish Church of the Holy Trinity in 1826-68. Footways also crossed the landscape, linking with tracks and green lanes and connecting settlements and places of work and worship. As the landscape was gradually enclosed, to manage livestock the paths traversed the stone and turf hedge banks with granite cattle, coffen and sheep stiles.

One such footpath runs between a bend at the north end of Pink Moors - a lane running from Vogue which is in turn to the north-west of St Day - to the hamlet of Treskerby to the north west. A granite cattle stile is located at the Pink Moors end, and for a field’s length from here the footpath follows the boundary between the historic Hundreds of Kerrier and Penwith; along the length of the footpath one other stile survives (this was not included in this assessment) and there were possibly a further five stiles before Treskerby.

Neither the footpath nor the cattle stile is shown on the 1838 Gwennap parish Tithe map. However, the path’s route through two fields named on the apportionment as ‘Church Way Field’, suggests that the path existed then as a right of way to and from the parish church. The 1880 Ordnance Survey (OS) map shows that from the stile the footpath led directly north-west to the Pick and Gad public house which traded from the mid to the late C19. The 1880 OS map also shows that the stile acted almost as a break between the footpath from Treskerby and a lane leading north-east to Wheal Pink copper mine; additionally, halfway along the path a track ran to Park-an-Chy copper mine and onwards to Wheal Clinton. All three mines were out of use by 1877. The stile at the north end of Pink Moors was therefore part of an established, and possibly ancient, footway which continues in use today.

Details

Cattle stile, probably early C19, Carn Marth moorstone granite with earth fill.

On its south side are three monoliths laid horizontally as steps. The top and foot stones are dressed, and the top stone has infilled drill-holes, suggesting reuse from a gate or fence post. A further horizontal monolith is laid at right-angles at the right-hand side at the top of the stile, and there is a grounder (or partially hidden monolith) on the same side above the foot stone. To the right of the stile are two 1m tall granite monoliths placed vertically; one appears to be a reused gate or fence post. On the north side are three further monoliths laid horizontally as steps.

The stile passes over a stone and earth hedge bank.

Sources

Websites
Heritage Gateway: Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Historic Environment Record (HER no. MCO67850), accessed 31/01/2023 from https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MCO67850&resourceID=1020
Heritage Gateway: Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Historic Environment Record (HER no. MCO68025), accessed 31/01/2023 from https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MCO68025&resourceID=1020

Other
Ordnance Survey, Cornwall (survey 1877; published 1880) (1:2500)
Tithe map and apportionment, Gwennap Parish (1838)

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