Location:
The cross stands on top of the roadside wall of a thatched cottage called
‘Wrangaton’, at the corner of a junction on the road from South Brent
to Bittaford.
O/S Grid Ref: SX/67676/57889
Longitude/Latitude (Degrees+/-): -3.86346/50.40593
Map location: Click here
to view map.
Purpose: Waymarker.
Size: 5
feet 2 inches (1.58 metres) tall. 1 foot 7 inches (0.48 metres) across the arms. The
shaft is 15 inches (0.38 metres) wide. The incised cross, on the roadside face,
measures 10 inches (0.25 metres) high and 10 inches (0.25 metres) across the arms.
Information:
This unusually shaped cross has been
fashioned from a substantial block of granite. The shaft is oval in section,
tapers slightly towards
the top and has been narrowed immediately below
the arms in order to form a ‘neck’ and ‘shoulders’ below the head.
The arms, which barely extend beyond the width of the shaft, have a
pronounced slope on their outside edges. The head also tapers
upward, almost to a point at the top. There is an incised cross on both of
its faces.
The cross now stands
in a modern rectangular socket stone, on the face of which is a plaque,
which reads:
VICTOR LOBB
OF
WRANGATON
1905 - 1977.
Mr Masson Phillips recorded that the cross was found at a
nearby crossroads, being used as a gatepost. Thankfully, it was rescued
and by 1937 it was standing in the middle of the lawn in the garden of
Wrangaton House. In 1959 it was removed from the lawn and erected in its
current position for all passers-by to enjoy. No records can be found of
its origins but, judging by its size, it would have been an important
monument and is unlikely to have been moved far from its original site.
The hamlet of Wrangaton nestles in a picturesque and rural
setting in the parish of Ugborough, quite close to the South Eastern
corner of Dartmoor. In the adjoining photo of Wrangaton Cottage, the cross
can be seen on top of the wall immediately in front of the near
corner of the house. The cottage sits on the corner of a road
junction and in the centre of this junction, opposite the cottage,
is a triangular area of grass bordered by a number of granite stones.
Some of these stones have
been ‘worked’ into rectangular and cylindrical shapes, but it is not
known whether this was for any purpose other than their current use.
Another similar stone stands in the field, on the opposite side of the
road from the cottage, behind a small drinking trough.
|