Page:Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries.djvu/513

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134 ^^ Ancient Stone Crosses certainly possess an attraction. On the adjoining commons, which are soon reached, are several pre-historic monuments of more than ordinary note. From Wonston we shall cross some path-fields to a little bridge at the foot of a steep hill, then taking the Chagford road we shall ascend towards the hamlet of Murchington. A few years ago, in the garden of St. 01ave*s, a pleasantly situated residence, then belonging to the Rev. W. T. A. Radford, rector of Down St. Mary, was a fine old cross. It was not a Dartmoor cross, having been brought from the parish of Bow, which is many miles distant. This was done, I have been informed, by the Rev. J. Ingle, a former owner of the property. About three years ago Mr. Radford sold St. Olave's to the Rev. A. G. Barker, and shortly afterwards the rector of Down St. Mary, saying that Mr. Radford had authorized him to remove the cross, took it away, to his own parish, and placed it in the church- yard there, where it now is. There seems, however, to have been a misunderstanding somewhere, as Mr. Barker after- wards ascertained that no permission to remove it had been given. The cross is five feet six inches in height, and nearly two feet across the arms. The comers, with the exception of those at the extremities of the arms and the top of the head, are roughly bevelled. Shortly before reaching Murchington we turn into the Gidleigh road, from which a lane branches towards the bottom of the valley. Entering this we descend the hill by a narrow pathway on the right to Leigh Steps, by which we shall cross the North Teign. A short distance up the stream is the entrance to Gidleigh Park— or Chase, where is a blend- ing of wildness and sylvan beauty that cannot fail to impress the beholder. But our course leads us to Leigh Bridge, immedialely below which is the confluence of the North and South Teign. The united stream flows onward to Holy Street, where formerly stood the old mill that has formed a subject for so many brushes, since the time it was painted by Creswick. We make our way up the hill, noticing the Puckie — or Pixy — Stone, on our left, below which is Blacksmith's Pool, and very soon afterwards descend towards Holy Street. At a bend in the lane we shall find the upper portion of a cross built into the wall. It is about three feet in height, and the