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Page:Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries.djvu/500

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Of Dartmoor and its BorderUmd. 123 of Halstock, vestiges of the foundations of which are to be seen at the eastern end of the park, but I have never heard it so related in the neighbourhood. Like so many of the Dartmoor examples, the old cross at Fitz*s Well is broken, and the lower part of the shaft is not to be found. The portion which remains is very rudely cut, and consists of the upper part of the shaft and the head. The height of this piece is just over three feet, and the breadth across the arms is one foot eight inches, a small piece being broken ofif one of them. There is an incised cross in the centre of the shaft, where it is intersected by the arms, eight inches by six, and about one and a half inches wide. The thickness of this ancient cross varies, but averages about eight or nine inches ; its whole appearance is very rugged. For a long time the cross lay by the side of the pool. It is now rescued from a position so likely to have brought about its entire destruction, and placed in one not only effective, but in which its preservation is ensured. From the summit of the hill near Fitz*s Well there is a remarkably fine view, the range of country seen towards the north being most varied and extensive. In the valley at our feet lies the town which we have just left, with its church on the hillside at some little distance from it. The remains of the castle of Baldwin de Brionys and the Courtenays with its grey walls clasped by the creeping ivy, are seen amid the trees to the left of the town, and though decayed and crumbling, it is yet lovely in its loneliness, the charm of old age endowing it with an attractiveness which fully compensates it for the loss of its former grandeur. As we turn our faces moorward we shall be struck with the fine appearance of three tors, at no great distance o£f, in a south-westerly direction. The furthest of these is Yes Tor, the middle height is West Mil Tor, and the one nearest us, the lowest of the three, is Row Tor ; the forest boundary lies on the further side of them. South-eastward are the Belstone tors which look remarkably fine from this spot, backed by the grand old hill of Cosdon. From Fitz's Well a path leads to Halstock Farm, and this we shall follow, and after passing the homestead shall enter a field known as Chapel Lands, where we may see the low mounds marking the site of the ancient sanctuary above