Original - The MAN & Other Families

THEANCIENT STONE CROSSESOFDARTMOOR & ITS BORDERLAND,CHAPTER I.An Old World Region and One of its Antiquities*Extent of Dartmoor The Border Towns Wildness of the MoorThe Forest Perambulations A home of Ancient Customs BorderScenery 'Antiquities The Cross an Object of Veneration Purposesof the Stone Cross Dartmoor Crosses Rude in Appearance TheirSurroundings The Border Crosses.The wild and elevated tract of country known as Dartmooris situated in South Devon, and, according to a reportby Dr. Berger, in Moore's history of the county, containsnearly three hundred and fifty square miles of surface.Other authorities, however, estimate it to be considerablyless in extent, the difference arising accordingly as the severalcommons lying near what is now considered as Dartmoorproper, have been included or not. These commons partakeof its character to a very great degree, and undoubtedly atno distant time formed a part of it. There is a large extentof moorland lying to the eastward of Moretonhampstead andLustleigh, bounded by the river Teign, which De la Beche, inhis Report on the Geology of Cornwall, Devon, and West Somerset,considers to be both geologically and geographically a partof Dartmoor, and it was by including this and other similartracts, that Dr. Berger arrived at the estimate he has given ofits size. These portions of moorland have, however, been cutoff by cultivation from the moor proper, and have not beenincluded by the other authorities when making their estimates.B