Huntingdon cross, by the river Avon thought to date from 1557 and mentioned in the tin boundaries of 1759. It was missing from the 1240 perambulation of the moor. It would appear as though this cross was originally erected as a waymarker for the Abbots? Way. However, in the mid 16th Century it was utilised by Sir William Petre, as one of four crosses used to mark the boundary of his manor, Brent, with the parishes of Dean Prior, Harford, and Princetown. The route across the moor, from Buckfast Abbey to the Abbeys at Tavistock and Buckland, passes through this spot and is generally known as the Abbots? Way. However, its original name was the Jobbers? Path as it was used by workers in the wool trade who, with their trains of packhorses, used to travel this route to deliver their bales of wool. Later, the abbeys came to own large flocks of sheep on the moor and the monks, then being involved in the wool trade, also used the same path. As its usage by the monks grew, so its name changed from the Jobbers? Path to the Abbot's Way.

Boddy Collection