Of Dartmoor and its Borderland. 17 forest; and in so doing shall follow the line of posts that mark the boundary of Brent Moor, which boundary appears to be indicated on the old map by a line on which are placed what seems to be meant for three stones. The cairn which bears the name of Western Whitaburrow is sixty-three yards in circumference, and according to the inquisition alluded to, the second cross marked with the words
- Bunda de Brentmore '* was placed here. Until about the
year 1847 it was to be seen erect on the centre of the cairn ; but it was then partially destroyed by some workmen in the employ of a company which was formed for the purpose of extracting naphtha from the peat that here abounds, but the undertaking was not a success. The works were close to Shipley Bridge, and the peat was taken thither from this spot on tram-waggons ; the old tram-road is now in a very ruinous condition, but still serves as a bridle-path. There being no place of shelter near, the labourers erected a house on the cairn with the stones of which it was compos- ed, and, requiring a large stone as a support for the chimney- breast ,they knocked off the arms of the cross and used the shaft for that purpose. I learnt this over thirty years ago from one of the men who had been employed on the works at the time, and gleaned further facts concerning the cross from others, who had then long known the moor. It may here be well to correct a statement that appeared in a guide-book, published about three years since, to the effect that the cross was discovered by the Ordnance surveyors at a
- factory building near Didworthy,** There is no foundation
whatever for it. The house at the cairn has been taken ■down for many years ; the walls, to the height of about three or four feet, being all that is now to be seen of it, but the shaft of the cross has, fortunately, not been lost. It is now set up on the cairn, and has had the broad arrow cut on it by the Ordnance surveyors. It measures four feet in height, and about fifteen inches in width. At the end which is now uppermost there is a tenon, and I therefore take this to be the bottom of the shaft, which was so fashioned in order that it might fit into a socket. The name of it, too, is still nnforgotten, for the spot is seldom called by its older c
