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Summary

Also known as Headless Cross. Single dressed granite shaft measuring up to 1.6 metres high. The top is broken obliquely and on its northern face is an incised Latin cross. Stands on a reave which was re-used as a boundary during the medieval period and marks the outer edge of the newtake for Nun’s Cross Farm. May also have been used as a bound mark for the nearby tinworks. It is believed to have originally been a waymarker for the Abbot’s Way and was moved to its present location. When first described in 1900, a second incised triangular shaped stone thought to have been the cross head lay nearby but this has since disappeared.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1002559: Foxton Cross

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX66NW7
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 441585
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX66NW/57
• Old SAM County Ref: 620

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CROSS INCISED STONE (Early Medieval to Early 20th Century - 1066 AD (Between) to 1901 AD? (Between))

Full description

Prowse, A. B., 1901, A hitherto undescribed granite cross on The Abbot's Way, Dartmoor, 552-553 (Article in Serial). SDV236584.

Cross is situated at the foot of Cater's Beam, two thirds of a mile south-east from Nun's Cross. A stone pillar 5 feet 6 inches high, 1 foot 6 inches wide and 1 foot thick. It's top is oblique, the west side being about 4 1/2 inches higher than the east. Lying nearby was a roughly triangular piece of granite, with the remains of a rudely cut cross in relief on one face, which was found by Prowse to fit naturally on top of the pillar.

Tyler, F. C., 1926-1927, Stone Pillar in Swincombe Valley, Dartmoor, 340-342 (Article in Serial). SDV236585.

This is probably the stone pillar which Tyler describes, triangular with a cross in relief, standing near the line of a reave boundary bank (presumably the Abbots' Way which runs nearby).

Masson Phillips, E. N., 1937, The Ancient Stone Crosses of Devon: Part I, 309 (Article in Serial). SDV240502.

Stone cross, about 1207 metres south-east of Siward's Cross, and 1609 metres south of Whiteworks by Fox Tor Mine. It stands on the line of an old reave running east and west. A rectangular shaft lacking head and arms. When Dr Prowse first noticed it in 1900, a roughly triangular piece of granite like that of the shaft lay nearby. It had the remains of a cross rudely cut in relief on one surface and was considered to be the head of the shaft. This head portion has now disappeared.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950/1978, SX66NW7 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV236582.

(06/06/1950) Remains of stone cross. A shaft of rough rectangular section, 1.6 metres in height, set up in a pile of stones.
(09/09/1978) The shaft, 1.7m high and 0.4m by 0.25m in section is as described by Prowse save that the triangular detached piece of head is now missing. There is no base stone, the shaft being trigged with small granite blocks.
As if to re-establish its identity a deeply chiselled Latin Cross has been incised on the north face, with an overall measurement of 0.1m.
Surveyed at 1:10000 on PFD.

Ancient Monuments, 1967, Foxton Cross, August 1967 (Schedule Document). SDV236580.

Foxton Cross. A wayside cross, probably marking the route to Abbot's Way. Standing to about 1.5 metres high; the arms of the cross are missing. There is a considerable packing of small rubble at the base of the shaft.

Starkey, F. H., 1983, Dartmoor Crosses and Some Ancient Tracks, 41 (Monograph). SDV345128.

It is suggested that this cross originally occupied the cross-base next to the Abbot's Way at SX 59956991, and that the cross was removed here to mark the boundary of tin-workings.

Brewer, D., 1986, A field guide to the boundary markers on and around Dartmoor (Monograph). SDV309252.

The stone, known as the Headless Cross, may well mark the bounds of a tin mine.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1993-1998, Dartmoor Royal Forest Project (Report - Survey). SDV346608.

(04/11/1994) A dressed moorstone block lies some 400m S of Foxtor Mires at SX 61326948. The stone is as described by authority 4. It now forms part of the marking out bank for the Nun's Cross Farm newtake, although it may be of greater antiquity than the newtake.

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

'Cross' is depicted on the modern mapping.

Historic England, 2016, National Heritage List for England, Accessed 12/07/2016 (National Heritage List for England). SDV359353.

Wayside cross surviving as a single dressed granite shaft up to 1.6m high. The top is broken obliquely and on its northern face is an incised Latin cross. See webpage for full detail.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project

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