Hele Cross

Historic England's scheduling record (list entry 1009178) describes Hele Cross, an exceptionally well-preserved and elegant late medieval wayside cross cut from a single piece of moderately coarse granite. It stands on a bank at a T-junction of minor roads, on the east side, in a square granite socket stone that rests on three visible courses of stonework, with a drop of about 0.8 metres to the road below. The arms run nearly north-west to south-east. The shaft and arms are octagonal in section, with chamfers 0.1 metres wide and tall pointed stops 0.35 metres high at the base of the shaft, and both arms and head are splayed. It lies in the parish of North Bovey, about 2 km north-west of Easdon Tor and 1.9 km west of North Bovey.

Shaft and head together are 1.76 metres high. The shaft is 0.29 by 0.25 metres and the arms are 0.65 metres across, each projecting 0.18 metres and deepening from 0.27 to 0.32 metres at the splayed ends. The head rises up to 0.19 metres above the arms and has a flat top, with a small piece broken off its north end. An iron clamp on the east side secures the shaft to the socket stone, which is 0.95 by 0.75 metres and 0.26 metres deep.

The cross is well made and well preserved and is likely to date from about 1500. Local tradition says it was taken from a chapel that once stood nearby, though it is probably more or less where it began. In 1868 it was made secure after being threatened by gravel digging.

Sources: Historic England list entry 1009178, which cites Crossing, The Ancient Stone Crosses of Dartmoor (1902), page 154.

• Period: Medieval
• Status: Scheduled monument (Historic England list entry 1009178)
• Grid reference: SX 7213 8416 (approximate, from the listing's coordinates)