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Summary

Wayside cross situated on the western slopes of Ter Hill. Survives as a single dressed granite slab set into a roughly rectangular socket stone. The cross is thought to mark a junction between the Abbot's Way and Sandy Way routes across Dartmoor. A second cross head once lay alongside this cross, but it has long since disappeared. The cross is known to have been re-erected, but was originally found lying beside its socket stone. This is one of a group of three crosses on Ter Hill.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1002617: Stone cross ENE of Childe's Tomb

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67SW30
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 443319
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67SW/54
• Old SAM County Ref: 850
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX67SW30

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• WAYSIDE CROSS (Constructed, Medieval - 1066 AD (Between) to 1539 AD (Between))

Full description

Crossing, W., 1887, Ancient Crosses of Dartmoor, Illustration 65 (Monograph). SDV261792.

Masson Phillips, E. N., 1937, The Ancient Stone Crosses of Devon: Part I, 310 (Article in Serial). SDV240502.

Stone Cross. Mount Misery (Fox Tor newtake). Type A. A cross of rough rectangular section, set up in a rough socket-stone buried in the ground. The top of the head is broken. The broken head of another cross formerly lay nearby, but has now disappeared.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950/1977, SX67SW30 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV261721.

(27/4/1950) Stone cross. Dimensions 1.7 metres high, arms 0.7 metres wide. The head is slightly damaged, otherwise in good condition. No trace of second cross.
(15/08/1977) A Medieval stone cross on the western slopes of Ter Hill set in a socket stone just within the angle of a stone wall. Height of socket stone 0.2m and of cross 1.7m, a total height of 1.9m; width of the arms 0.7m. See photograph.
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on PFD.

Ancient Monuments, 1970, Cross at Mount Misery, 12/11/1970 (Schedule Document). SDV261719.

Medieval stone cross with rectangular sectioned shaft, set in a rectangular socket which is now largely buried. The top of the head is broken.

Robinson, R., 1982, List of Field Monument Warden Visits 1982 (Un-published). SDV342809.

Visited 10/8/1982.

Hemery, E., 1983, High Dartmoor, 354-5 (Monograph). SDV249702.

The cross within the angle of the walls is a fine one with a chamfered shaft. The wall builder obviously decided that the Abbot's Way Cross would make a good boundary point and I believe this to be the junction of the Abbot's Way and Sandy Way ancient paths.

Robinson, R., 1983, List of Field Monument Warden Visits 1983 (Un-published). SDV345762.

Visited 19/1/1983.

Masson Phillips, E. N., 1984, Supplementary Notes on the Ancient Stone Crosses of Devon (Seventh Paper), 144-145 (Article in Serial). SDV345276.

Robinson, R., 1986, List of Field Monument Warden Visits 1986 (Un-published). SDV345664.

Visited 31/7/1986.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1987-1993, Duchy Farms Project Survey Visit, M. J. Fletcher (Report - Survey). SDV350839.

(01/07/1988) SX 63657058. A freestanding cross, situated in enclosed moorland pasture, approximately 7.8 metres from a wall junction. It stands 1.7 metres high and the slightly damaged Latin crosshead is 0.75 metres wide. The shaft, 0.3 metres by 0.2 metres at the base, is chamfered on only one face; the opposite face has squared corners, and the chamfers terminate 0.4 metres above the foot of the shaft at a rather crude, weathered stop.
The shaft is cemented into a socket stone, a moorland boulder of sub-triangular shape 1.0 metres long and, at maximum, 0.65 metres wide; it protrudes slightly from the ground.
The other Latin crosshead was not located and has probably been removed.

Ordnance Survey, 2016, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV359352.

'Cross' is depicted on the modern mapping.

Historic England, 2016, National Heritage List for England, Accessed (National Heritage List for England). SDV359353.

The wayside cross 1120m ENE of Childe's Tomb marks the junction on two important routes across the moor. It is unusual because it has been chamfered on two edges so, of its type, it would be considered rather decorative. It also forms one of a group of three on Ter Hill with further crosses surviving to the west. Wayside crosses tend to survive differentially as a result of damage by religious iconoclasts during turbulent periods of religious change throughout the Reformation. As a result many bear scars of past damage and the slightly broken head of this cross attests to a turbulent history. It is known to have been re-erected but was found fallen beside its original socket stone so the location is original.
The monument includes a wayside cross situated on the western slopes of Ter Hill, overlooking the valley of the River Swincombe within the upper north western corner of the Fox Tor newtake. The cross survives as a single dressed granite slab set into a roughly rectangular socket stone. The socket stone is made from a moor boulder and earthfast; the visible part measures approximately 0.9m long by 0.4m wide and 0.2m high. The Latin cross is rectangular in section, with the upper part of the shaft chamfered on two of its corners. It measures 1.7m high and 0.7m wide at the arms and the top of the head is broken. The cross is thought to mark a junction between the Abbot's Way and Sandy Way routes across Dartmoor. A second cross head once lay alongside this cross, but it has long since disappeared. The cross is known to have been re-erected, but was originally found lying beside its socket stone. This is one of a group of three crosses on Ter Hill. Two, including this example, are scheduled separately but the third has not been formally assessed for scheduling.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project

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