Of Dartmoor and iis Borderland. 67 CHAPTER VIII. Meavy to Sampford Spiney* Yennadon — Socket-stone at Dousland — Walkhampton Church — An Old Church-house — Socket-stone — Huckworthy Bridge — Cross on Huck- worthy Common — Sampford Spiney Cross— Whitchurch Down. We have seen that Marchants Cross not only acted as a guide to those who journeyed over the roads we have traced thus far, but also as a boundary to the lands granted to Buck- land Abbey. But besides the former there was another path which it served to mark. There is little doubt that the Abbots* Way from Sheepstor to Buckland passed by this spot, so that the cross would act as an assurance also to the travellers on that track that they had not strayed from their way, and would point them to the ford below. Once more crossing Marchants Bridge, we shall proceed up the lane over which we passed when on our way to Meavy, but leaving that village on our left shall mount the hill to Yennadon. Here, if we leave the road, and make our way to the higher part of the down, we shall not fail to be delighted with the extensive view obtained from it. Rocky steeps, smiling fields, hills covered with gorse and heather, thickly-wooded glens, and wide stretches of common are spread around ; and if we are familiar with the writings of Capem, the Devonshire post- man poet, his words may possibly recur to us as we look down upon the lovely valley of the winding Mew.
- ' The vales of Devonia !
What landscapes are seen, So fertile in beauty, So golden and green !'* Passing on our way we arrive at Dousland,"^ within a very short distance of which is one of the stones alluded to in the preceding chapter, and which we shall find to be of precisely similar character to the holed stone we have already examined near Roborough. It is in a hedge close to a gateway on the
- Previous to the adoption by the Railway Company of this mode of
spelling the name it was usually spelt Dowsland. But as I And that in 1 81 8 the letter » was used, and not w^ the present form is probably correct.
