Peter Tavy that marked the grave of a suicide. The spot is still known as Stevens' grave, and a small mould of earth is yet distinguishable, but the stone has disappeared. It is situated by the side of a grassy track on the common to the eastward of the village.
The walk from Peter Tavy to Mary Tavy is not a long one, the distance being, as the villagers have it, "one mile from, tower to tower." The path will lead us by the river, which here flows through scenery of the most charming description. On a strip of level ground, by the waters of the Tavy, rises Longtimber Tor, a square shaped mass of rock, with perpendicular sides draped with ivy, and embosomed in foliage. It is of considerable size, and when viewed from a distance is strikingly like the ruin of some ancient building. Opposite to this is a dark wall of rock, by which the river sweeps, overhung with trees, that also cover the hill-side above. Further up we shall cross the stream by means of a clam, or narrow wooden bridge, and then ascending a winding path shall enter upon a lane that will bring us immediately to the village.
The churchyard at Mary Tavy was extended in 1880, and the open space upon which the old cross stood included in its boundary, so that this interesting object is now within the gate. It stands upon a pedestal consisting of three stages measuring respectively about nine feet, seven feet, and four feet nine inches square. The lower step is only seven or eight inches high, but the height of the other two is about fourteen or fifteen inches, while the tread of each is rather under one foot. The stone in which the cross is fixed is close upon three feet square, and seventeen inches high, its upper edge being bevelled. Its sides are ornamented with carvings, each being of a different design, the figures bearing some resemblance to mullets and roses in heraldry. The shaft which is of an octagonal form except at its foot, where it is square, is four feet ten inches in height, and upon this is neatly fixed the head and arms, which are modern, the original having by some means been broken o£f and lost. It is tapering, being thirty-two inches in girth near the bottom, and only twenty-three immediately under the arms.
The stones forming the pedestal are all in their places, and the joints have been cemented, so that the Mary Tavy Cross
