Merchant's or Marchant's Cross

In his Dartmoor Pictorial Records, Burnard tell us that: This cross, situated at the foot of [LinkToda1091 Lynch Hill], close to [LinkToda221 Merchant's Bridge], Meavy, is the tallest and best shaped of all the Dartmoor crosses. It stands a trifle over eight feet in height, with arms two feet three inches across, and fourteen inches deep. A cross is incised on each side where the centre of the shaft is intersected by the arms. It is most picturesquely situated, just within cultivated country, but on the very edge of the Moor; for the steep slope of Lynch Hill commences at its base. It was in medieval times the first guide-post for the wayfarer, who, if going across the wastes in a southerly direction, ascended the hill until the cross at [LinkToda411 Cadaford] and that at Lee Moor, known as [LinkToda3076 Roman's Cross], enabled him to reach the more hospitable districts around Cornwood and Ivybridge. If going east, it led to the village of [LinkToda100159 Sheepstor], or by route marked by nine crosses, over [LinkToda1296 Walkhampton Common] and the Forest, by way of Terhill and Down Ridge to Holne and [LinkToda101072 Buckfast Abbey]. Sometimes these pious symbols were set up as boundary marks in defining the limits of the Forest and the Commons adjoining. There is an instance of this in an Inquisition taken at Brent, A.D. 1557, when bounds of Brent Moor were settled by jurors; and to make these visible and beyond dispute.