Page:Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries.djvu/555

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

ija The Ancient Stone Crosses arms has been knocked completely off, while the other only projects about two inches from the shaft, the greater part of it having been broken or chipped off. Holes have also been drilled in it for the reception of hinges. It stands about iive feet nine inches above the ground, and is about sixteen inches in breadth immediately below the arms ; at the base it is wider. From Town Farm we make our way to the hamlet of Pound's Gate, and descend to Newbridge, on the Dart. Away on the hill is Holne vicarage, the house in which Charles Kingsley passed his babyhood. Had he remained longer there it is possible that the scenery of the old moor might have exercised a similar influence upon him to that which did the northern coast of the county. From New- bridge we climb the hill, and once more reach the village of Heine, passing through which to Play Cross, we shall turn into the lane that leads to Scoriton. Another long climb and we reach a little common known as Cross Furzes, imme- diately at the higher end of the valley of Dean Burn, a narrow gorge having steep sides clothed with oak coppices, and through which runs a tributary of the Dart. By the roadside is an old stone about two and a half feet high, and having a letter cut in relief on three of its faces. These are the initials of the names of places to which it points the way, namely, Tavistock, Ashburtnn and Brent. A gate in another part ot the little common opens on to Wallaford Down, a breezy tract, whence most extensive views are obtainable, its western slope forming one side of the Dean Burn valley. Across this we might make our way to Dean Church, distant some three miles or more from Cross Furzes» and which from its association with the poet Herrick, who was vicar of the parish for some years before the Common- wealth, and again after the Restoration, will always possess a peculiar interest. Mr. Worthy, in his notice of Dean in the work before referred to, mentions an old head-stone in the churchyard there, having what he supposed were "the massive fragments of the ancient cross " placed round it. The pieces of stone in question have something of the appearance of a broken shaft, but on examination will be found to be portions of an old granite mullion. Descending the side of Cross Furzes, close to which passed the Abbots' Way as it entered the moor, we