122 The Ancient Stone Crosses water. After a time they chanced to light upon the well on the brow of the hill above Okehampton, when true to her prophecy, the spell was broken and their way lay plainly before them, with the town they were desirous of reach- ing lying snugly in the valley below. This experience must have made some impression on their minds, for the man vowed to set up a cross by the well which had been the means of dispelling the uncanny influence by which he had been controlled. He kept his vow, and caused the granite cross that we still see there, to be erected in recognition of his thankfulness at escaping from his perplexities, and as a memorial of the magical effect of the water. This story is but a variant of the one related of the well on the Blackabrook near Princetown, and the well in Oke- hampton Park probably bears the same name as the other, in consequence of the park together with the manor of Meldo having once belonged to the family of Fitz. John Fitz, the old lawyer, erected a small conduit over a spring at his seat of Fitzford, at Tavistock, and Mr. Bray,* referring to this playfully calls him a water- fancier, and states that he had in his possession the old lawyer's autograph (written John Fytz) on the counter-part lease of a field, which gave him liberty to convey water ** in pipes of timber, lead, or otherwise,'* to his house at Fitzford, and which was dated the loth of Elizabeth. That sovereign began to reign in 1558, and as Mr. Bray points out, the date which is graven on the tablet over the well on the Blackabrook is 1568. In addition to the date there are also to be seen the letters I.F., and Mr. Bray, in his diary written in 183 1, unhesitatingly affirms his belief that John Fitz was the constructor of the edifice over the well. The moormen often call the spring in Okehampton Park^ Spicer's Well, but this is evidently only a corrupted form of " Fice," the name of Fitz being often pronounced in Devon- shire, Fize or Fice. They relate that the cross was set up by
- a rich gentleman," but for what purpose they are unable to
say. In Bridges* Account of the Barony and Town of Ohehamptom it is stated that there existed a tradition which affirmed that the cross was brought to the well from St. Michaefs Chapel
- Vide extract from his Journal, Borden of the Tamar and the
Tavy. vol. I, p. 301.
