Of Dartmoor and its- Borderland, 107 skirts of the town, called Gulwell, and supported an old cross which we shall now proceed to examine. A path running behind the houses will take us to the entrance to a field known as Stone Park, across which we make our way to a lane, when we shall observe the spring immediately without the gate. Its water has long been considered of great efficacy in cases of weak eyes, and it has been suggested that its name is a corruption of that of the patron of blind people, Gudula, a Flemish saint, to whom the spring was perhaps dedicated. The Rev. S. Baring- Gould does not, however, incline to this belief, but thinks that we see in the name of the well that of Gulval, a Celtic saint. We shall not find the cross here, but at a farm a little further on, and which bears the same name as the well. In the lane, and quite close to the wall of the garden in front of the farm house, is a small mounting-block, the top of which is formed by a portion of the interesting object we have come to see. This consists of the shaft only, and if it really was brought from the spring it must have been long ago, for I learnt in 1892 from the late Mr. Perry, the owner of Gulwell, who was then eighty three years 01 age, that it was in its present situation in the time of his grandfather. The piece of shaft is five feet three inches in length, and for a distance of two feet from the bottom is eleven inches square. Above this it is octagonal, the sides being alternately four and five inches across. The stone is much worn, and would seem, from two holes that are drilled in it, to have been used at some time as a gate-post. The head and arms of this cross are in a building in the farm-court, and upon this portion a large cider vat is resting. The neighbourhood of Ashburton is full of the picturesque. Our visit to it now has been a brief one, but ere our wanderings are over, we shall look again upon the hills that encircle it.
