Of Dartmoor and its Borderland, 145 ancient track across the moor, seems to be likely, though it is possible it may also have commemorated some event. Tradi- tion assigns its erection solely to the latter, and relates that it was set up to mark the scene of a conflict between the invad- ing Saxon and the Christian British of the moor. But what- ever may have been the intentions of those who reared it in the dim past, it is gratifying to reflect that one, at least, is fulfilled ; that the symbol of the Christian faith here meets the eye of the wayfarer. There is also another tradition connected with this spot. It is related that here was erected the gibbet on which a criminal was hung in chains, the last in the neighbourhood to be made an example of by a barbarous law. Beetor cross is very rudely fashioned, and on Hele Moors stood but a little over four feet in height ; the breadth of the shaft is about eleven inches, and its thickness an inch less. Across the arms, one of which has a corner broken off, the measurement is sixteen inches, so that it will be seen that they project but little. The head is not so wide as the shaft, and one of the arms is somewhat higher than the other. On its face is an incised cross, which, however, can only be seen when the sun is shining upon it, and the ends of the lines appear to have had cross strokes, forming crosslets. One mile beyond Beetor Cross we enter upon the moor, and about a mile and a half further on shall come in sight of another old wayside cross. It stands near the road on the left as we advance, and it will be seen that it is leaning con- sideraby out of the perpendicular, but is yet in a perfect condition. It is of very rugged appearance, no pains having been taken in forming the shaft, this seeming to be little more than the stone left in its natural shape, the short, rudely- carved arms, and the head, being the only parts in which any attempt at fashioning is displayed. It is known as Bennet's Cross, and though we are ignorant y^y this name was bestowed upon it, we can, at all e^-ents, be sure that it has borne it for at least two centuries. I find the cross mentioned by that name in the deposition of William French, of Widecombe, in an action brought by the rector of Lydford for tithes, in 1702, and as it appears that it was then well-known, it is more than probable that it had been so called for some time prior to that date.
