Of Daftmoor and its Borderland. 143 around it being a little uneven, it is in places not quite so much. There is a plinth, the sloping top of which is exactly one foot from a cornice formed by projecting slabs, and is six inches high. From the outer edge of these slabs to the trunk of the tree the distances varies from about twenty-six to thirty-four inches. This is now covered with earth and planted, but we cannot congratulate those respon- sible for the innovation upon the effect of their work, which violates every principle of good taste, and sadly mars the appearance of the old tree and the venerable stone beneath it. The cross or what remains of it, rises twenty-one inches above this base, and is fixed in position with cement. This was done by Mr. Harvey, who informed me that there were only about two inches of the stone sunk in the hole formed to receive it. It is octagonal in shape, but the angles are much weathered ; the head is forty-six inches in girth, and the arms forty- two, these measuring twenty-seven inches across, and projecting six inches from the shaft. There is an oval-shaped cavity six inches by five, and three in depth, on the head of this cross, and also two little channels, each about an inch in width ; around the top of the head are two mouldings. In the centre of one of its faces (that turned from the tree) is a Greek Tau cross, incised to the depth of an inch and a half, the upright limb being a foot high and three inches wide, and the arms ten mches across, and four and a half inches wide. On the other face is a hollow of precisely the same size as the arms of the Greek Tau, but in a similar position to the upright limb of it. Very near to the Cross Tree is the old poor-house, a building of some interest, having an arcade with ten small arches, five on each side of the entrance. George Bidder, the eminent engineer, was born at More- tonhampstead. He was placed at the University of Edin- burgh when only in his fourteenth year, having developed surprising powers of mental calculation. He was the engineer of several important railways and other great public works. His death took place in 1878. The highway from Moretonhampstead to the western border commons being formed, as we have already stated, on the line of the ancient track we wish to follow, we shall have the advantage of a good road across the forest.
