Of Dartmoor and its Borderland. 125 bottom, and five or six inches thick. The markings are on three of its sides, the western one being plain. These consist of a circle above a St. Andrew's cross, and other imperfect figures, on the northern side ; lines having some faint resem- blence to a human form, on the eastern, and on the southern other lines and semi-circles. Mr. Spence Bate has figured this stone in the paper to which we have before referred, and has given a very good representation of the markings.'*' Half a mile or so further on the highway runs for a short distance along the verge of the moor, and here, close to the road that conies down from Belstone, and at the entrance to the village of Sticklepath, is another inscribed stone. This is a larger one than that we have just examined, being about five and a half feet in height, and about a foot square, though the sides are not quite of equal size. It bears markings of a similar character, and has in addition a Latin cross cut in relief upon it. It is not easy to say what the rude tracery represents, but there is a figure which may be likened to the outline of the globes of a huge hour glass. There are two St. Andrew's crosses, and the occurrence of this figure on both stones would seem to point to their connection with that saint. The parish church of South Tawton, not a mile distant from this Sticklepath stone, is dedicated to him. Mr. G. W. Ormerod noticed this stone in a paper read before the members of the Devonshire Association, in 1874;! and he says that it once fell down when a road was cut near it. It has also been mentioned by Mr. C. Spence Bate,t and by Mr. Thomas Hughes. § The stone stands at the entrance of the glen, down which courses the river Taw,
- The long brook falling thro' the clov'n ravine,"
and close beside it is a well, over which is inscribed — Lady Well. Drink and Be Thankful. Sticklepath is a pretty little village, and forms a good place whence to commence the ascent of Cosdon. The Dartmoor explorer will iklso find that from it he can, by making his way up the valley t>f the Taw, easily gain the recesses of the moor.
- Trans. Plymouth Institution, Vol. VI.
fPrinted in the sixth volume of the Transactions. The paper is entitled Wayside Orfisscs in the District Bordering the East of Dartmoor. I Trans. Plymouth Institution, Vol. VI. § Gentleman's Mag.y Sept., 1862.
