Of Dartmoor and its Borderland. 15 who took it from its original position, although it is not impossible that they may have used it as a mark for their boundary, In the account of Buckfast Abbey in Dr. Oliver's Monasticon there is an inquisition on the boundary of Brent Moor, dated 1557,* at which time certain rights and privileges pertaining to it were held by Sir William Petre in virtue of his possession of the manor of South Brent. This boundary line was marked by four crosses at certain points ; one on the centre cairn at Three Barrows, one on the cairn known as Western Whitaburrow, a third at Buckland Ford, and a fourth at the confluence of the Avon, or Aune, with the Western Wellabrook, and they each had the words ** Bunda de Brentmoie," engraven on their faces. I am inclined to believe that it was for the purpose of serving as a mark to these bounds that Hobajon's Cross was taken from the row of stones, and if it ever stood on the little cairn marking the boundary of the lands over which the manorial rights of Ermington extend, it was taken there from Three Barrows, in which case the jury of survey, to whom Mr. Bate has alluded, must have found it there, and set it up once more upon the great cairn on the hill. There is no trace of any inscription to be seen on the portion which now remains of this interesting relic, and how it became so mutilated it is impossible to say. I have carefully examined the stone-row on several occa- sions, but could never find any traces of the steps as shown on the map, and, as before observed, it is doubtful whether they ever existed. On a stone at the extreme end of a rowf nearest Sharp Tor, and which is much larger than most of the others which compose it, is a small incised cross measuring seven inches in height and five and a half inches across. This stone is evidently an addition to the row, but is distinguishable, at a glance, from a modem boundary post. It stands about three and a half feet above the ground, and appears to mark some important point, as it is placed in the middle of a small, rough
- Monasticon Dioecesis Exoniensis, p. 378.
t From its commencement at the circle on Butterdon Hill, to its termi- nation at this stone, the row is one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one yai'ds in length. The distance of the centre cairn on Three Barrows from the stone is two thousand three hundred and twenty-five yards.
