Of Dartmoor and its Borderland. 129 3S Oxenham Cross» but only a small portion of the shaft, and the mutilated head of the old monument that formerly marked it now remains. This is standing in the hedge, concealed by bushes, on the left in ascending. The piece of shaft was noticed by Mr. G. W. Ormerod in his interesting paper; it is octagonal in shape, and about two feet in height, and three feet seven inches in girth. Mr. Ormerod speaks of it as being between Whiddon Down and Oxenham, but this is not quite cor- rect, as it stands, as now described, on the South Tawton side of Oxenham, whereas Whiddon Down is in the opposite direction. Some years ago I discovered the upper part of this cross among some stones in a hedge by the side of a gateway near by, though I afterwards learned that its existence was not unknown to two or three in the neighbourhood. This piece is about thirteen inches high and seven inches wide ; the top is broken away, and only rises about four inches above the arms. It is one foot across the arms, and where these intersect the shaft there is a small incised Greek cross seven inches high, the lines being an inch and a half wide. The shattered head is now resting on the broken shaft. Not far from this cross, and in full view from the field in the hedge of which it stands, are many very high mounds of soil thrown out from some quarries which have been worked for a great number of years. They are covered with grass and dotted with trees, and have quite a picturesque appearance. Passing up the lane the entrance to Oxenham will be observed on the right hand. The ancient mansion no longer «xists; the present building is an erection of the last century, and is now used as a farmhouse. With the family of Oxenham is connected a very curious tradition. It is said that a white bird, or one with a white breast, appears as a forewarning of the death of members of the family ; that it is
- bound" to appear when the head of the family is about to
die, and may do so just previous to the death of any other of the members. There is an account of its appearance in 1635, which was printed in a tract of twenty pages, in which an allu- sion occurs to the bird also having appeared in 16x8, and several instances have since been recorded, the latest being in 1873.*
- A very exhaustive paper on this curious omen, by Mr. R. W. Cotton,
may be seen in the fourteenth volume of Transactions of the Devonshire Association,
