drawn from the under surface of the arm, dose to the shaft on the western side, would fall seven inches ofif from the bottom. The broad arrow has been cut on it, I presume, by the Ordnance surveyors.
Some moss and lichen are seen on the head of this interest- ing relic, telling us of its age, like the silvered hair of an old man. Time, however, has dealt gently with it, for it is in a very good state of preservation, and shows but few signs of the winter storms to which it has for long years been exposed.
From its style this cross would appear to be of sixteenth century erection, and it could not therefore have marked the Abbots' Way. But as the branch of that path which led to Tavistock must have passed very near to its site, it is not altogether unlikely that it replaced an older stone. It is pointed out by the moormen that the Windypost stands in a direct line between a fine menhir, connected with the stone rows on Long Ash Hill, near Merivale Bridge, towards the east, and a cross on Whitchurch Down, to be presently noticed, towards the west. That a more recent path than that of the monks passed this way, we shall see in a succeeding chapter, and that the three objects mentioned marked its course there is little doubt. As this must also have been .the general direction of the Abbots' Way, there seems to be good reason for supposing that the more modern track here followed the line of the ancient one.
From the Windypost the path will lead us down the hill towards Moortown, where we pass over ground doubtless often traversed by the monks.
- Moretown,*' says Risdon, ^* hath long been in the tenure
of Moringe, a family which anciently wrote themselves De Ja More, which place bordereth on the skirts of the moor." Some lofty trees grow round the house, and a pleasant lane near it leads from the moor, presenting a striking contrast to the wild heath we have just left, thickly strewn with its scattered granite boulders. On nearing the end of the lane an ascent is before us, and up this we make our way, to shortly find ourselves on Whitchurch Down. We pursue a straight course, and soon an object is revealed which will become a guide to us, as it has been to others in the long -past years.
