Jump to content

Page:Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries.djvu/475

From Wikisource
This page needs to be proofread.

n»o The Ancient Stone Crosses Jtre following, and crossing the Wobrook at a place called Skir Ford, immediately where the stream turns so abruptly. This old path runs from Hexworthy to the springs of the Avon, and is used by the farmers to bring in their peat. Leaving the stream a little to the right, we shall notke several small heaps of stones, placed at intervals along the slope. These little mounds which are met with in varions parts of Dartmoor are called by the moormen sfannaburrows, which name is probably derived from the same root as the word stannary^ and they were probably tin bounds set up by the miners. After passing several of these mounds, we shall reach one by the side of which stands a cross. The upper portion of this cross lay for years on the ground, but in 1883 I asked a farmer who lives at Hexworthy, near by, named Samuel Smith, to set it up on the mound, and this he did. The lower part of the shait, measuring about three feet in length lay near by partly buried in the soil. Two years later, on the occasion of the re-erecting the crosses on Terhill, we also repaired this one, clamping the two pieces together, and setting it up by the mound. It was afterwards throMrn down, as there was no socket in which to secure it, but it is gratifying to know that it is now again standing ^rect. The shaft is about six feet high, and the fracture runs obliquely across its middle ; it is rather more than one foot in width, but scarcely eight inches thick. Across the arms the width is two feet five inches, and they are ten inches deep. The head rises about seven or eight inches above them, and is worn a good deal ; in fact the cross has altogether a ver>' weather-beaten appearance. In a direction nearly due east, we shall observe on the brow of the hill on the further side of the Wobrook, a small mound, and within a few score yards of this we shall presently find the remains of another of the interesting abjects of which we are in search. Between it, however, and the cross we have just been examining, and almost in a line with them, is jmother, directing us to a fording place over the stream. We shall therefore proceed to an inspection of this relic, which is within a few hundred yards of the spot on which we stand. For many years I was unable to find this cross. I had ben informed by a labourer who lived a long time at Hexworthy,