Watching Place Cross

Historic England's scheduling record (list entry 1009176) describes Watching Place Cross, a medieval wayside cross cut from one piece of moderately coarse granite and cemented to a granite socket stone, set on top of a hedgebank where the B3212 Moretonhampstead to Princetown road meets the B3344, known as Long Lane. Its original site was a short way north, where Beetor Cross now stands, which has its own scheduling. It lies in the parish of North Bovey, about 1.1 km east of Lettaford.

The arms are very stumpy and run roughly north-west to south-east, and the head is also very short, so both are likely to show more or less their original size. The cross is 1.44 metres high and 0.38 metres across the arms. The shaft is nearly square, about 0.33 by 0.3 metres, with a bulge on its north-east face. A cross about 0.2 metres square is cut on the south-west face between the arms, hidden by lichen. The socket stone is about 0.9 metres square and 0.33 metres deep, and the shaft seems to sit on it rather than belong to it, since an iron clamp and wedge hold them together. The cross was set up here in 1899, having been used as a gatepost in a neighbouring field for some years.

Historic England says the primitive style of the cross, with its short head and arms, makes it a candidate for a Christianised prehistoric standing stone.

Sources: Historic England list entry 1009176, which cites Crossing, The Ancient Stone Crosses of Dartmoor (1902), pages 144 to 145.

• Period: Medieval
• Status: Scheduled monument (Historic England list entry 1009176)
• Grid reference: SX 7129 8418 (approximate, from the listing's coordinates)