Page:Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries.djvu/514

 i:x Of Dartmoor and its Borderland, 135 C2£- arms measure twenty -seven inches across, one projecting HKj-j seven inches from the shaft, and the other five. They are not quite of the same depth, being eleven and twelve inches pg*;.^ respectively. The width of the shaft immediately under the ^ . arms is fourteen inches. In the centre is an incised cross, ten ^_ inches high. For the preservation of this old relic we are indebted to the Rev, Arthur Whipham, who placed it where we now see it. It had previously been lying in the yard at Holy Street, and was brought there from Chagford by a Mr. Southmead. It used to stand in, or near, the market- place, and a base of a cross now in the court at the rear of Southmead House, is said to have belonged to it. Mr. Ormerod, however, states that another cross, which will be found at Way Barton, was the one that surmounted this base. That writer, who was for some time resident at Chagford, no doubt had opportunities of ascertaining its history, but I can- not find any other belief now existing than that the base is that of this Holy Street Cross. It is a very handsome example, and while the cross is certainly of simple form, and displays no attempt at ornamentation, the one at Way Barton is of a far ruder type, and it can scarcely be conceived that it ever belonged to such a carefully fashioned socket-stone. A short walk from Holy Street, past the deserted woollen factory close to the picturesque bridge, will bring us to Chag- ford, now so well known as a tourist resort. The base of the cross, as we have stated, is at Southmead House, which formerly belonged to the gentleman of that name, and he it was, I have been told, who caused it to be removed here. Seeing that he also took the cross to Holy Street, it would certainly appear probable that the one belonged to the other. The stone has been hollowed out, and now forms a pump trough, but the ornamentation of its sides has not been interfered with. This consists of well-cut mouldings, and gives it an appearance totally different from the other bases we have examined, with the sole exception of the one already noticed at Ashburton."** It is an octagon, measuring forty-four inches across, each of its sides being about nineteen inches. 5 and exhibit much more skill in their fashioning than any others found in the Dartmoor district, should each have been made into water troughs.
 * It is rather singular that these two bases, which are of similar shape,