Hidden piece of Penzance’s past uncovered during gas pipe works
Workers found a granite cross buried beneath the road - marking the town’s historic centre
A hidden piece of Penzance’s past has been uncovered during gas pipe works in Greenmarket.
Workers found a granite cross buried beneath the road - marking the town’s historic centre -thanks to local historian Linda Camidge spotting the find.
It’s believed this ‘Borough Cross’ was once the starting point for traditional civic ceremonies, and its location dates back to the borough boundaries set in the 1600s.
Archaeologists, council experts, and contractors carefully measured and recorded the cross before re-burying it and marking the spot with a survey nail.
The discovery will now be added to Cornwall’s Historic Environment Record, so future roadworks will protect the site.
Penzance Council say the boundaries of the borough were marked with four boundary stones in 1687 – two of which are still in situ today.
Around 150 years later, in 1829, the Market Cross was moved to near where the HSBC is today, at the bottom of Causewayhead.
To retain a marker for the historic centre of Penzance where the Market Cross had stood, a granite cross was embedded into the ground, flush with the surface of the road - before it being buried and forgotten years later.
It's now been reburied after being covered in a thick layer of protective plastic.
An archaeological report is now being written.
Tom Goskar also created a 3D scan of the Borough Cross from survey photographs which can be seen here.