Page:Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries.djvu/515

 136 The Ancient Stone Crosses It is sunk a little into tbe ground, and now measures one foot in height ; beneath it there is a well. Way Barton, the residenc9& of Mr. Coniam, is distant not quite a mile from Chagford, on the road to Teign- combe. The old cross to which we have referred is l3ring at the back of the farm buildings, and, when I first saw it, in 1892, could scarcely be distinguished from a rough gate-post, to which purpose it had, indeed, at some time been put. The position of two or three holes drilled in it to receive the hinges showed that when so used the upper part had been placed in the ground. The head had been knocked off, and apparently the greater portion of the arms also, these being very short, and extremely rough. With the aid of a crowbar, Mr. Coniam's man at my request turned the stone over, and I then discovered an incised Latin cross upon it. The lines of this are very thin, and it was not entire, the top part having been graven on the head of the cross. The upright line was seventeen inches, and the one that crossed it, eight inches long. Small lines were to be seen at the extremity of this latter, and also at the bottom of the upright line, forming crosslets. This old stone, which is still lying there, is five feet long, and measures eighteen inches across the arms. The width of the shaft immediately under the arms is one foot, and it is eight inches in thickness. It has the appearance of a wayside cross, and is certainly not what we should expect to find surmounting a base such as we have examined at Southmead House. Since I first saw this cross hinges have been put to it, the intention evidently having been to use it again as a gate-post, but it is to be hoped that this design will not be carried out. In the immediate neighbourhood of Chagford there is very much to interest and delight. He who seeks the beautiful in nature will certainly find it here, and the antiquary may fully occupy his time in the examination of the numerous remains, both pre-historic and mediaeval, that abound within a radius of a few miles, including the celebrated dolmen, or cromlech, near Drewsteignton. A point in the lane close by the dolmen, where it is intersected by another, is known as Stone Cross. There is no cross now standing there, but Mr. Ormerod says that he was informed by the occupier