Page:Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries.djvu/410

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Of Dartmoor and its Borderland. 45 leading directly to the priory, the ancient bridge, if there 'was one here, probably occupying a different site from the present structure near by. But however this may be, it is <:ertain that the old track we are about to follow started from this point, or very near it. Leaving the Torry we take the road that passes through Colebrook, which place is close by. Here we shall notice a school and chapel belonging to the Methodist Free Church, the memorial stones of which, as the inscriptions on them testify, were laid by Mrs. Joseph Crossing, of Plymouth, that of the former in 1866, and the other in 1868. Our road turns up on the left, and soon after leaving the village we shall Teach a spot where the lane branches. We pursue the one on the right, the left leading to Boringdon, the former seat of the Parker family, the present Earls of Morley ; it is now used as a farm-house, and is a fine building, occupying a com- manding situation. A little further on we obtain glimpses of Newnham and Elfordleigh, both surrounded by beautifully wooded grounds, and crossing the valley in which the latter stands, shall skirt Boringdon Wood. On reaching the top of the hill we perceive we are nearing the moor, several hills lying immediately before us, prominent among which we soon discover the crest of the Dewerstone Hill, near Shaugh. On our left, though not visible from the road, is Castle Ring, sometimes called Boringdon Camp, an ancient enclosure of about four acres in extent, and having traces of a ditch on the outside of the rampart. Near an old granite post by the roadside we again com- mence to descend, and soon cross the tram-road that runs from below the Laira Bridge to the clay works on Lee Moor, and then having mounted a gentle ascent, shall reach the first of the objects of which we are in search. This is Browney Cross, and in the old days when the way- farer passed over this road it not only assured him that he was pursuing the right path to Tavistock or Shaugh, but also indi- •cated where he was to turn off should he desire to go to Bick- leigh. Now, a modern finger-post has taken its place, and the old cross has disappeared. AU that remains to mark its site is the socket-stone in which it w^s fixed, and a ruined founda- tion. This stone is in the centre of a large, open space, covered with turf, and is now somewhat weathered. It is