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Stonehenge: The Story So Far, Julian Richards

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Bennet's Cross - Ancient Cross in England in Devon

Submitted by thecaptain on Thursday, 07 October 2004  Page Views: 8625

Early Medieval (Dark Age)Site Name: Bennet's Cross Alternative Name: Bennets Cross
Country: England County: Devon Type: Ancient Cross
Nearest Town: Exeter  Nearest Village: Postbridge
Map Ref: SX68008162  Landranger Map Number: 191
Latitude: 50.619306N  Longitude: 3.867299W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
 4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
 5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
 4 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
 5

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Anne T visited on 15th May 2019 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4 Bennet's Cross, Devon: Not on our schedule for the day, but as we drove right past this cross, we pulled over in the small car park just to the eastern side of the B3212to take a closer look at this cross and to take some photographs. A slight problem on the morning, as the car park, even before 9.30am was chock-a-block with a party of ‘twitchers’, so as our car was blocking some of theirs in, Andrew stayed with the car and I ran over to the cross. The early morning sunshine was really bright, so parts of the cross were in deep shade. I did see the carved WB on the cross, but the shadows were really deep. The intention was to stop on the way back and photograph the cross in a different light, but we were so tired at the end of the day, I forgot.

lichen visited on 31st Aug 2015 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 3 Access: 4

TwinFlamesKiss visited on 1st Mar 2014 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 5 car park right next to cross. Historic Warren Inn pub couple of hundred yards away.

jeffrep visited on 20th May 2011 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 5 Access: 4

graemefield visited on 27th Jun 2002 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 3

lauraaurora hamish TheCaptain cazzyjane heidavey have visited here

Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3.4 Ambience: 4.2 Access: 4

Bennet's Cross
Bennet's Cross submitted by thecaptain : This is a lovely cross, believed to have been carved from a prehistoric menhir. It stands about 1.7 metres tall, and is just beside the B3212 road near its high point as it crosses the moor between Moretonhampstead and Postbridge. (Vote or comment on this photo)
This is a lovely cross, believed to have been carved from a prehistoric menhir. It stands about 1.7 metres tall, and is just beside the B3212 road near its high point as it crosses the moor between Moretonhampstead and Postbridge, at an altitude of about 430 metres.

As with many of the Dartmoor crosses, it has been used as a boundary marker, and had inscriptions carved into it, defining the various parishes, here Chagford and North Bovey.

For more information see Historic England List ID 1106209 (scheduling information), Historic England List ID 1106209 (listing information), and Pastscape Monument No. 443800.

The Historic England scheduling information tells us the cross was damaged, probably by lightening, in 1982 and repaired in 1983. The lightening stroke damaged the first downstroke of the letter W in the inscription WB on the cross (which probably stands for Warren Bounds).
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Bennet's Cross
Bennet's Cross submitted by cazzyjane : Bennet's Cross. May 2012. (4 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Bennet's Cross
Bennet's Cross submitted by jeffrep : Bennet's Cross and Friends in Dartmoor National Park, Devon. (Oftentimes spelled as Bennett's Cross.) (Vote or comment on this photo)

Bennet's Cross
Bennet's Cross submitted by cazzyjane : Bennet's Cross, my favourite of the Dartmoor crosses. Oil on canvas. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Bennet's Cross
Bennet's Cross submitted by cazzyjane : Bennet's Cross. Looks like it is melting in the sun! (Vote or comment on this photo)

Bennet's Cross
Bennet's Cross submitted by hamish : Bennett's Cross, possibly a marker stone from the Neolithic times. There is a lot of significance in this area so the trick would be what it was marking, but great to see. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Bennet's Cross
Bennet's Cross submitted by TwinFlamesKiss : Bennets Cross

Bennet's Cross
Bennet's Cross submitted by Antonine : 2008

Bennet's Cross
Bennet's Cross submitted by Antonine

Bennet's Cross
Bennet's Cross submitted by Antonine

Bennet's Cross
Bennet's Cross submitted by Antonine

Bennet's Cross
Bennet's Cross submitted by Antonine

Bennet's Cross
Bennet's Cross submitted by Anne T : Bennet's Cross. Trying to capture how roughly hewn and oddly shaped this wayside cross is. The scheduling information on Historic England says: "The style of this cross, which is unlike any other recorded Dartmoor cross, combined with its remote yet conspicuous location, make it a strong candidate for being a Christianised prehistoric standing stone".

Bennet's Cross
Bennet's Cross submitted by Anne T : Bennet's Cross from its south eastern side, looking back towards the B3212.

Bennet's Cross
Bennet's Cross submitted by Anne T : Getting closer, the 'kink' in the cross shaft and the tapering arms and head become clearer. A beautiful location, on the old track between the Benedictine monasteries at Exeter and Tavistock (source: F.H. Starkey: Dartmoor Crosses & Some Ancient Tracks, 1983).

Bennet's Cross
Bennet's Cross submitted by Anne T : First view of Bennet's Cross, approaching along the grass on the eastern side of the B3212 from the small roadside car park. At this time of the morning (just before 9.30am, the sun was bright and strong, throwing the western side of the cross into deep shade). (2 comments)

Bennet's Cross
Bennet's Cross submitted by cazzyjane : Bennet's Cross, near the Warren House Inn, Dartmoor.

Bennet's Cross
Bennet's Cross submitted by rockmanzym : Bennett's Cross Bennett's Cross near Birch Tor - September 2010 Image copyright: Rockman of Zymurgy, hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.

Bennet's Cross
Bennet's Cross submitted by thecaptain : This is a lovely cross, believed to have been carved from a prehistoric menhir. It stands about 1.7 metres tall, and is just beside the B3212 road near its high point as it crosses the moor between Moretonhampstead and Postbridge.

Bennet's Cross
Bennet's Cross submitted by thecaptain : View south towards Challacombe Down.

Bennet's Cross
Bennet's Cross submitted by Thorgrim : A probable Christianised prehistoric standing stone, Bennet's Cross is quite unlike the many medieval stone crosses of Dartmoor. Located at SX68008162 just off the B3212 between Postbridge and Moretonhampstead.

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 685m E 86° Birch Tor Cairn* Cairn (SX6868681654)
 739m NE 40° Bush Down Settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement (SX6849282173)
 913m WSW 247° Water hill cairn* Cairn (SX67158128)
 1.1km NW 322° Hurston Ridge Settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement (SX67338253)
 1.1km NW 320° Hurston Ridge* Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue (SX67308251)
 1.2km SE 128° Challacombe Down Cairn Circle* Cairn (SX68968083)
 1.3km NNW 339° Chagford Common Cairn* Cairn (SX6757182800)
 1.3km SE 128° Challacombe rows* Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue (SX68988082)
 1.4km SE 130° Challacombe Down Standing Stone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SX69028072)
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 2.2km ESE 108° Grimspound* Ancient Village or Settlement (SX70078090)
 2.3km NNW 336° The Heath Stone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SX6712083750)
 2.3km NE 48° Challacombe Cross Settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement (SX69788313)
 2.5km E 99° Grimslake Cist* Cairn (SX7041881165)
 2.5km NW 315° Lowton Brook West Settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement (SX663834)
 2.5km NW 323° East Lowton settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement (SX6653783668)
 2.5km ESE 113° Hamel Down Platform Cairn (North)* Cairn (SX70318057)
 2.6km W 267° White Ridge stone row* Stone Row / Alignment (SX65408156)
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"Bennet's Cross" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
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Re: Bennet's Cross by Anne T on Saturday, 22 June 2019
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Some notes from F.H. Starkey, who, in his 1983 book “Dartmoor Crosses & Some Ancient Tracks” says: “From Chagford Cross, the road continues its undulating course with high ground to the right (north) and mainly falling ground to the left. Soon the road begins to run almost dead straight and at the end of the straight stretch we see the Warren House Inn ahead of us … on the left of the road, about four hundred yards short of the Inn, stands our next cross. This is Bennet’s Cross. It stands well back from the road close t a recently constructed roadside car park. This is a very odd cross, indeed it is one of those mentioned earlier, in which a minimum of work has been done to a pillar of granite to give it a cross-like appearance. This one stands about six feet tall and has a rough, bulky, semi-round semi-rectangular shaft. The shaft has a decided kink in it. The arms are very short and both they and the head taper slightly. The letters WB are carved n the shaft. According to Crossing, they signify “Warren Bounds” and the other stones bearing the same initials can be found on the common nearby. The ancient rabbit warren from which Warren House Inn took its name lies to the immediate south”.

“How Bennet’s Cross got its name is uncertain. It might be no more that a local tin-miner named William Bennet held mining rights in the vicinity and that the cross was one of his bound-stones. It is said that a tinner of this name appears in a 16th century Stannary record as having attended a meeting of the Stannary Parliament. On the other hand, the track marked by this and other crosses along the road was the direct connection between Exeter, where there was a Benedictine monastery and Tavistock, where there was another. Bennet (or Benet) was a common corruption of the name Benedict in medieval times, so this explanation too could be acceptable … Bennet’s Cross is also a boundary mark; it stands on the boundary between the parishes of North Bovey and Chagford”.
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