Week Down Cross

• Grid reference: SX 71158 86534 (Historic England)
• Scheduled: Historic England list entry 1009191, first listed 23 February 1971, amended 15 September 1994
• Height: 1.95 m above the turf on the south side
• Carvings: Incised crosses on the east and west faces, and the letters IA on the north face

Week Down Cross stands on open ground about 9 m north of a minor road above Chagford, with wide views, and is cut from a single piece of coarse granite. The arms are stumpy, projecting only about 70 mm, and the head is rounded. It leans strongly to the south west but appears stable, and four slab-like stones set round the base help to hold it. Historic England notes that it now stands on a stony scarp about 3 m wide and 0.5 m high, which may itself be prehistoric. An incised cross with splayed ends is cut between the arms on the east face and a smaller one on the west face, and the letters IA are finely cut on the north face below the arms.

Historic England calls its primitive style a sign of great age and a strong candidate for a Christianised prehistoric standing stone. William Crossing recorded in 1902 that it was moved in 1867 because the bank was giving way and it was feared it would fall, and that taking it away to use as a footbridge had also been thought of. It was set up again leaning at the same angle. He gave its height as six and a half feet and the arms as barely an inch and a half, where Historic England measures about 70 mm, so the two accounts differ on that detail.

Walkers' notes link it with an early track running from North Bovey and Moretonhampstead into Chagford. Parking nearby is limited, and one guide suggests leaving the car on Nattadon Hill and walking down.

Sources: Historic England list entry 1009191, which cites Crossing (1902) and his Old Stone Crosses of the Dartmoor Borders (1892) | William Crossing, Ancient Stone Crosses of Dartmoor (1902) | Holiday in Dartmoor, Week Down Cross | Dartmoor Crosses, the same cross with photographs.