Historic England's scheduling record (list entry 1009189) describes Bennett's Cross, a conspicuously sited and well-preserved single-stone wayside cross of coarse granite with large feldspar crystals, about 16 metres south of the B3212 between Postbridge and Moretonhampstead. The arms run due north to south and the cross is 1.85 metres high at most. The shaft is oddly misshapen: the bottom 0.6 metres is straight, then it bends north about 50 millimetres, and its east side bulges in the middle. It has no defined or chamfered edges and is roughly rectangular, up to 0.36 by 0.46 metres. The head tapers towards the top, from 0.29 to 0.2 metres wide, and rises 0.24 metres above the arms. It lies across the parishes of North Bovey and Chagford, about 0.7 km north-west of Birch Tor and 2.5 km north-west of Challacombe.
The letters WB are cut on the west face, 0.12 metres high. They probably stand for Warren Bound, because the cross was a bound mark for a rabbit warren in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the first downstroke of the W was lost when the cross was damaged, probably by lightning, in 1982. It was repaired in 1983. The cross is also a boundary mark between the parishes of Chagford and North Bovey. It seems to be set in an embanked hollow about 4 metres across.
Historic England says its style, unlike any other recorded Dartmoor cross, combined with its remote but conspicuous position, makes it a strong candidate for a Christianised prehistoric standing stone.
Sources: Historic England list entry 1009189, which cites Crossing, The Ancient Stone Crosses of Dartmoor (1902). The Library's Bennett's Cross hits are the contents pages and a reference in An Exploration of Dartmoor.
- Period: Medieval
- Status: Scheduled monument (Historic England list entry 1009189)
- Grid reference: SX 6799 8162 (approximate, from the listing's coordinates)
