Page:Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries.djvu/551

 1 68 Th4 Ancient Stone Crosses prominent heights in both the northern and southern portions of it. To anyone wishing to gain some idea of the extent of Dartmoor, Hameldon ofiers the most advantageous point from which to obtain it, though the true character of the moorland region is not revealed so fully as from Cut Hill in the north quarter of the forest. From the latter height many of the more solitary parts of the great waste are seen, with scarcely a sig^ of cultivation, while from Hameldon much of the enclosed portion of Dartmoor is commanded, and also a wide extent of South and East Devon. From Cosdon Beacon in the north- north-west, the eye ranges by a vast extent of moor round to Great Mistor in the west, and thence, taking in North Hessarj Tor, we look to the south-west, to the dark hills of the southern quarter of the forest, and see in the far distance the Eastern Beacon on Ugborough Moor and near it the neighbouring^ peak of Brent Hill. Looking across the Widecombe valley we obtain a grand view of numerous rocky eminences, among which are Hey Tor, Rippon Tor and Hound Tor, while nearer to us the noble heights of Honeybag and Chinkwell Tors, and Bonehill Rocks hft their lofty heads above the combe. The view is truly magnificent, and in whichever direction the observer turns he is sure to be impressed with the grandeur of the surroundings, and the wild aspect of the desert range — " Where the grey Tor, as in ages of yore, Mocks the inad war of the storm on tiie Moor, Bravely exposing its huge granite crest, Or wrapt in a cloud like an angel at rest."* We shall soon reach the old cross which is situated on the hill, just at the point where we sight the house belonging to- Headland Warren in the valley below. We shall find it to be a very rudely-fashioned one, formed out of a slab four feet four inches in height, the width of it immediately below the arms being one foot eight inches. One of the arms — the southerly one — is broken off, and lies on the ground near by. The depth of the remaining one close to the shaft is thirteen inches, but it is not nearly so much as this at its extremity. The head has also been broken, but it does not appear that it ever rose very much above the arms. From the end of the arm which is now remaining,
 * Capern. Song of the Dcronian.