Original - The MAN & Other Families

12 The Ancient Stone Crossesheight was five and a half feet, and across the arms itmeasured two feet seven inches.But though there is no cross now in Brent itself, themoor belonging to the parish can furnish us with an example,and, for the purpose of examining this, and others on theboundary line of the forest, we shall leave the littletown, and direct our steps to Three Barrows, a lofty hillrising high above the left bank of the Erme. Our way willfirst take us by the foot of Splatton Hill to Lydia or LeedyBridge, a single arch spanning the Avon. Immediatelyabove it is a fine waterfall, while below a stately row ofbeeches throw their branches partly over the stream, alongthe bank of which is a path leading by the vicarage lawn tothe church. Passing up the hill, we reach the hamlet ofAish, at the higher end of which we turn into a lane on theleft, and, still ascending, at length enter upon the commonknown as Aish Ridge.From this elevated down Three Barrows can be plainlyseen, and for some considerable distance we shall have theadvantage of a moorland track which runs towards it. Thispath will bring us to Brent Moor at Coryndon Ball Gate,soon after which we shall commence the ascent of the hill,where, on the slope near the summit, we shall find theshattered remains of one of the objectsit is now our purposeto examine, lying amid the granite with which the ground isstrewed.Three Barrows, which is about three and a half milesfrom Brent and some two miles to the northward of HarfordChurch, is crowned with three large cairns, whence its name,and during an exploration of one of them by Mr. Spence Bate,recorded in the fifth volume (1872) of the Transactions of theDevonshire Association, part of a cross, consisting of one ofthe arms and the top of the shaft, was found near at hand.This he, with great probability, supposed to be a portion ofone which he states was set up by a jury of survey, empanelledto settle some bounds in this part of the moor about a centuryand a half before.He also considered that in it he saw all that remained of across which is mentioned on an old map of Dartmoor asHobajon's Cross, and which is there represented as standingon two steps, and is situated nearly in the middle of a row of