Of Dartmoor and its Borderland. 155 inhabitants, it was found to have been removed, but where, or by whom, they could not at first discover. At length it began to be rumoured that it had been taken away by no less a person than the rector himself, and for the reason that the people had made a practice when bringing their dead for burial of carrying the corpse thrice round the cross before taking it into the church. This custom did not commend itself to the rector, the Rev. John Charles Carwithen, whose influence over his flock, one would imagine, could not have been very great, or he would certainly have been able to dissuade them from the performance of so meaning- less a ceremony. It is very certain he could not have possessed much reverence for antiquities, or he would have hesitated to commit such an act of vandalism as to rob Manaton of its cross. Mr. Carwithen, who was instituted in 1 84 1, and remained in the parish until 1848, was the eighth rector of that name. But the discovery of Iconoclast is one thing : the finding the place where he has hidden his broken images another. Manaton Cross has never been seen since the night the rector removed it. Old William Derges, a former sexton, remem- bered the searches for the missing cross. It was thought that it might have been buried, and all likely spots were carefully probed, the result, however, being nothing but disappoint- ment. The rector had done his work too well. The base of the cross, which is near the south-east corner of the chancel, is of granite, measuring thirty-two inches by thirty, and having its surface level with the turf. The socket is rather over fourteen inches square, and five inches deep. Crossing the green and passing in front of the rectory with its old granite gateway, we proceed a short distance up the lane, and then strike over some path-fields on the right. In a few minutes we shall reach the edge of a wood, clothing the steep side of a valley, across which rises a rock-strewn hill, and over this our way lies. Descending the hill, through the wood to Foxworthy, we speedily find ourselves in the re- nowned Lustleigh Cleave. Passing a pile of rocks that we see midway up the acclivity on the left, we leave the path, and after a rather toilsome climb, gain the summit. Not far from a plantation is one of the entrances to South Harton Farm, and if we can obtain permission
