Page:Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries.djvu/477

 I02 The Ancunt Stone Crosses three quarters of a mile to Hexworthy, one of the ancient settlements of the forest. Here we find not a cross upon which the storms of hundreds of Dartmoor winters have left their mark, but one of quite recent erection. On the common not far from the Forest Inn, a little wayside hostelry, is Queen Victoria's Cross, set up in October, 1897, *o commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Her late Majesty It having been decided by the inhabitants of the forest that a cross would be a fitting memorial of the event, a committee was appointed to arrange the details of the matter, and so great was the interest shown, that the desired end was speedily accomplished. The cross, which is of Dartmoor granite, made at the quarries of the Messrs. Duke, at Merivale Bridge, is a very handsome one. It stands on a pedestal of three stages, rising to a height of about four and a half feet. On this is a tapering shaft, surmounted by a head in the form of a Maltese cross, the arms of which are connected by a circlet ; the top of this is seven feet ten inches above the pedestal. On the shaft is engraven ^* V.R., 1837-1897,*' and the base bears a suitable inscription. A goodly number of people attended the unveiling, at which there was an appropriate service. Returning to the Wobrook and reaching the mound near Horse Ford, we shall continue to trace the path by which we have crossed the forest, but shall not proceed far ere we perceive the broken cross to which we have already alluded. It is known as Hom*s Cross, and has been very sadly mutilated, nothing but a small portion of the upper part of the shaft, with one complete arm, and what appears to be a piece of the other, now remaining. It is, however, uncertain whether what looks likes an arm may not really be the top of the shaft. This piece is one foot ten inches across, and the other is but one foot four inches. The width of the former is ten inches, and of the latter piece nine inches, the thickness of it being eight inches A small fragment of stone, probably a portion of the shaft, lies near it. The socket stone is two feet eleven inches by two feet nine inches, the socket itself measuring one foot two and a half inches, by ten and a half inches, the depth of it being nine inches. From the size of this socket it is evident that the shaft of the cross must have been a great deal wider at the