The trees were stunted and only about double the height of an
average-sized man, but with wide arms spread out at the top twisted and
twined in all directions. Their roots were amongst great boulders, where
adders' nests abounded, so that it behoved visitors to be doubly careful
in very hot weather. We could imagine the feelings of a solitary
traveller in days gone by, with perhaps no living being but himself for
miles, crossing this dismal moor and coming suddenly on the remains of
one of these crucified sacrificial victims.
Not far from Wistman's Wood was Crockern Tor, on the summit of which,
according to the terms of an ancient charter, the Parliament dealing
with the Stannary Courts was bound to assemble, the tables and seats of
the members being hewn out of the solid rock or cut from great blocks of
stone. The meetings at this particular spot of the Devon and Cornwall
Stannary men continued until the middle of the eighteenth century. After
the jury had been sworn and other preliminaries arranged, the Parliament
adjourned to the Stannary towns, where its courts of record were opened
for the administration of Justice among the "tinners," the word Stannary
being derived from the Latin "Stannum," meaning tin.
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