Details

The monument includes a well preserved coffin-shaped wayside cross formed from
a single piece of moderately coarse granite. The shaft tapers to a head with
a flat top. This cross has no arms, and there is no indication that it ever
had any. It is set on a grass and scrub verge on the north east side of a lane
leading from Middlecott to Week Down and Chagford. The cross is 2.5m from the
edge of the tarmac road. Moved from this position in 1873 it was relocated
here in 1900.
The long side of the cross is orientated north west-south east. Its maximum
visible height is 1.7m. The shaft is at its widest about two-thirds of the way
up the stone. The greatest dimensions of the shaft are 0.45m by 0.27m.
The south west face has on it a cross carved in relief extending 0.54m down
from the very top of the shaft. The arms of the relief cross extend 0.39m
right across the width of the shaft. In other words, four `panels' have been
removed from the upper portion of the shaft on this face. The lower panels
measure 0.25m by 0.13m by 5mm deep, and the upper panels 0.16m by 0.12m by 5mm
deep. The ends of the relief cross are slightly splayed, to a maximum of
0.14m. Between the arms of the relief cross a small incised cross has been
cut, measuring 120mm horizontally by 110mm vertically, the cut being 10mm wide
and 2mm deep.
On the north east face, there is an incised cross near the top of the shaft.
It measures 0.39m vertically by 0.34m horizontally. The cut is 20mm wide and
has a maximum depth of 6mm. The arms of the incised cross extend right across
the width of the shaft. The bottom of the incised cross is 0.44m below the top
of the shaft.
The flat head of the shaft is approximately square in section, measuring
0.25m by 0.26m. A groove, perhaps caused by erosion, runs across the centre
of the head and down both north west and south east sides for about 0.3m.
This groove is mostly 20mm-30mm wide and 10mm deep.
Besides being on the road verge, the cross is sited on the top edge of a
scarp that falls away to the north east to what appears to be an old sunken
lane bordered by a wall on its far side, and running downslope in a
south easterly direction. This may be the original route beside which the
cross was first set up. However, the unusual shape of this cross, and its
lack of conventional head and arms suggest that it is at least an early
medieval example, and may represent a Christianised prehistoric standing
stone.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Wayside crosses are one of several types of Christian cross erected during the
medieval period, mostly from the 9th to 15th centuries AD. In addition to
serving the function of reiterating and reinforcing the Christian faith
amongst those who passed the cross and of reassuring the traveller, wayside
crosses often fulfilled a role as waymarkers, especially in difficult and
otherwise unmarked terrain. The crosses might be on regularly used routes
linking ordinary settlements or on routes having a more specifically religious
function, including those providing access to religious sites for parishioners
and funeral processions, or marking long-distance routes frequented on
pilgrimages.
Over 350 wayside crosses are known nationally, concentrated in south west
England throughout Cornwall and on Dartmoor where they form the commonest type
of stone cross. A small group also occurs on the North York Moors. Relatively
few examples have been recorded elsewhere and these are generally confined to
remote moorland locations.
Outside Cornwall almost all wayside crosses take the form of a `Latin' cross,
in which the cross-head itself is shaped within the projecting arms of an
unenclosed cross. In Cornwall wayside crosses vary considerably in form and
decoration. The commonest type includes a round, or `wheel', head on the faces
of which various forms of cross or related designs were carved in relief or
incised, the spaces between the cross arms possibly pierced. The design was
sometimes supplemented with a relief figure of Christ and the shaft might bear
decorative panels and motifs. Less common forms in Cornwall include the
`Latin' cross and, much rarer, the simple slab with a low relief cross on both
faces. Rare examples of wheel-head and slab-form crosses also occur within the
North York Moors group. Most wayside crosses have either a simple socketed
base or show no evidence for a separate base at all.
Wayside crosses contribute significantly to our understanding of medieval
religious customs and sculptural traditions and to our knowledge of medieval
routeways and settlement patterns. All wayside crosses which survive as earth-
fast monuments, except those which are extremely damaged and removed from
their original locations, are considered worthy of protection.

Shorter Cross is a well preserved and highly unusual example of a Dartmoor
wayside cross. It is likely to be at least early medieval in date, and may
have prehistoric origins.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Crossing, W, The Ancient Stone Crosses of Dartmoor, (1902), 139

Source: Historic England