Page:Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries.djvu/532

 Of Dartmoor and its Borderland. 151 from the Municipal Records of that borough, among which occurs the following : — 1699-1700 Item paid towards defraying the charges of putting vpp Morre- stones on Dartmoor in the way leading from Plymouth towards Exon for guideing of Traveliers passing that way the sume of £2, Having thus followed the Moreton road to the western purlieus of the forest, and noticed the objects on it which have called us so far, we here leave it at the point where its early forerunner probably joined the way of the monks that led to Tavistock, and retrace our steps towards the town whence we set out. Just after passing Moor Gate, where we enter on the enclosed lands at the fourth milestone from Moreton, a turning on the right, or south side of the road, will be observed. Here a path leads across two fields to Leeper, a border farm, where the upper portion of a fine cross was recently found. As it had been built into the wall of the garden in such a manner as to expose its face, its existence was, of course, known to the dwellers at the farm, but little or no notice had ever been taken of the stone by them. It is three feet four inches high, and one foot ten inches across the arms, one of which has been broken and is very short. The width of the shaft is about fifteen inches, and the arms are eleven inches deep. There is a Latin cross in relief placed in the centre, twenty-five inches high and twelve and-a-half inches across the arms, the limbs being three inches wide. Whether this cross originally marked the track we have pursued across the forest, or a path between Beetor Cross and the Challacombe Valley, or a branch to Widecombe, cannot, of course, be determined. It is a fine example, and judging from its present proportions was, when complete, not less than six feet high.