Horse Ford Cross on Down Ridge

This 1914 photograph shows the restored Horse Ford cross. According to the Dartmoor writer, William Crossing, he had heard stories of this cross on Down Ridge long before it was found. In 1884, after careful and thorough searching, the head and a small portion of the shaft were found hidden in the heather. Another part of the shaft was found buried nearby. Restoration was not immediate however - in 1889 another writer records finding the broken pieces of this cross still lying on the ground. It is likely that the cross was restored as a shorter cross than it originally was. Like some moor-side Humphrey Bogart, the photographer's shadow looms over the lower part of the picture.