Of Dartmoor and its Borderland. 43 year. She was found lying in the snow, only a few yards from her door. We cannot leave the town of Plympton without a feeling of regret, its old-world appearance' and associations so im- pressing us that we hesitate to break the spell which a long lingering by its venerable buildings casts upon us. The parish of Plympton St. Mary adjoins, and towards its church, which is very near, we now bend our steps. On entering the churchyard we shall observe a modern cross, at the western end of the building. This is a memorial to the Rev. Merton Smith, a former vicar of the parish, who lost his life in 1883, in the Pyrenees. The cross is of fine propor- tions, and stands upon a handsomely worked base, on a pedestal consisting of five steps, and octagonal in shape. It is a good example of the modern sculptor's art. The church is large, and contains several monuments. Its style is a mixture of Decorated and Perpendicular, and in addition to the two side aisles, there are two exterior aisles. The groining in the roof of the south porch will not fail to arrest the attention of the visitor upon entering. The legend so frequently attached to ecclesiastical build- ings, of the arch enemy of man having removed the stones from the site on which it was originally intended to erect the edifice is related of this church, which the tradition states would not have been placed in so low a situation but for this. In a little work by the Rev. W. I. Coppard, vicar of the parish, entitled Cottage Scenes during the Cholera^ we read that at a vestry meeting held on the 13th January, 1833, the year after the visitation of the cholera, it was resolved :
- 'That a small stone, in the shape of a cross^ with the date 1832
engraved upon it, be placed as a memorial at the head of all the graves of persons who had died of the awful disease of cholera." A priory of Augustine Canons formerly existed at Plymp- ton, founded by Bishop Warlewast, who in 1121 suppressed a College of the Benedictine order, that had been founded here by one of the Saxon kings. Baldwin de Redvers of the castle endowed it, and it became one of the wealthiest foundations in the county, its revenue being even greater than that of the rich abbey of Tavistock. Among the possessions of the priory were the manors of Shaugh, Meavy, and Sampford Spiney, and the monks* road
