Page:Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries.djvu/535

 X54 ^^^ Ancient Stone Crosses From North Bovey we shall proceed to Hele, makiDg our way thither by descending to the higher bridge over the Bovey Brook, and following the lane that leads by Yard Farm. As we approach Hele House, which is about a mile and a half from North Bovey, we shall see the cross standing high above the road on our right, and shall at once perceive that it is an exceedingly fine example. It is a Maltese cross, and the arms and shaft are octagonal. The base in which it is set is a stone ten inches high, rectangular at the bottom, and measuring thirty-six by twenty-nine inches, but at the top formed into an octagon. The cross is five feet ten inches in height, the lower part of the shaft being square^ but assuming the octagonal form one foot from the bottom. At this point it is forty-two inches in girth, and this diminishes to thirty-seven inches immediately under the arms ; close to the shaft these are one inch less than this in girth. They spring off at the height of four feet five inches from the bottom, and measure twenty-five inches across. The head rises seven inches above them. A tradition exists in the neighbourhood that a small chapel once stood close to the stream which runs just below, and that from there the cross was brought. ' Around it pilgrims were wont to gather ere setting out across the moor to visit the abbey of Tavistock, and to offer prayers in the little shrine. Hele Cross stands upon masonry raised to the height of several feet. Mr. Ormerod seeing that it was in danger of being undermined through a hollow having been scooped out close to it by persons taking away gravel, called the attention of those interested in its preservation to the matter, and in 1868 it was moved back a little and fixed in its present posi- tion, and secured by a clamp, by a mason of North Bovey^ This was done, I have been informed, at the expense of the late Earl of Devon. Retracing our steps we shall pass near the village of North Bovey, and so make our way by the lane and some pleasant path-fields to Manaton. Here the well-kept green, bordered with trees, will at once attract the attention of the visitor, while he will also not fail to be struck with the romantic surroundings. A cross formerly stood in Manaton churchyard, but the base of it alone remaios. One day, to the surprise of the