This cache is the 22nd point on the Dartmoor Forest boundary, as established by the 1240 Perambulation. More details about the Perambulation can be found on the cache page for the Dartmoor Forest Bonus. On the front page of the logbook is an adjustment to be made to the Bonus co-ordinates, which you will need to find the Bonus.
Syward’s Cross is a large granite cross that was standing in its present location well before the Perambulation, and its exact age is unknown. Standing over 7 feet tall, it has stood on this exposed spot, resisting all that the Dartmoor weather could throw at it for at least 800 years. It has been repaired once in its life, by a John Newcombe, in around 1846, after two lads decided to knock it over and the main shaft broke in two. These were fastened back together by iron straps, which are still going strong 150 years later.
The modern name for the cross, and so of all the features around it, is Nun’s Cross. Why it is called this no-one knows, but it does not appear to have anything to do with the sisterhood. The modern name was first recorded as “Nannacross” in 1699, but the origin of that name remains obscure.
The cross is allegedly inscribed with the word “Syward” on one side and “Boclond” on the other, although it is now so weathered and covered in lichen that the only thing I can make out is a cross incised in its west face.
Nowhere on the rest of the Perambulation is the path followed by the twelve knights so clear and so certain, and you can imagine their party traversing the ridge between here and South Hessary Tor, with the Forest on their right hand, and the commons on their left.
If doing this cache as a standalone, the closest parking is at Peat Cot (waypoint below), and there is a good track straight to Nuns Cross. If doing the Perambulation as a route, the next point on is Peat Cot, and it is an easy flat walk along the old packhorse trail to there.