TORS OF DARTMOOR
a database of both lesser- & well-known rocks and outcrops
Arms TorHampster Tor
 This fabulous tor of several outcrops cloaks Arms Tor Down on the western escarpment of Dartmoor, high above the village of Lydford. It is especially magnificent as you view it walking across High Down towards the stepping stones and footbridge, where both it and Brat (Brai) Tor tower above the onlooker. It is a steep climb up to the top, but your labour will be repaid by stunning outcrops and views. Indeed, Crossing (1912) says that the tor is "rather striking in appearance" and Hemery (1983) is equally complimentary: "Some of its many partings are striking, and the pile at the east end of the ridge is weathered in pillar-like formations." The outcrops are widespread across the hilltop and perhaps the best of these is on the south-west side (SX 5405 8623). Here the outcrops are horizontally jointed at the same gradient as the hill. The summit boasts a superb rock basin which was described by Jenkinson and Piper (2020) as being "quite unusual in appearance" and measuring "some 30cm in length and is about 25cm wide with a depth of approximately 8cm."  Beneath the multitude of outcrops is a vast cloak of clitter that has provided readily accessible stone to construct a prehistoric settlement in the shallow valley-floor of the River Lyd. Consisting of 10 huts (Butler, 1991), the settlement is small but is well situated as it is sheltered beneath the tor and close to a water supply. If you cross Noddon Ford (from Shortacombe) and take the grassy path to the flank of the tor, Arms Tor Rings is visible as a group of hut circles, although beware that in summer the low walls can be obscured by prohibitive bracken.  Arms Tor straddles the parish boundaries of Lydford (L) and Lands common to the Parishes of Bridestowe and Sourton (B S). A succession of boundary stones run up to the base of the tor from Vale Down in the west. The newest to be erected is on the tor itself and was set up in 2000 to commemorate the New Millennium. It can be found at approximately SX 5378 8625 and it is a modern stone with 'MM' inscribed near the base.  The tor here might have once been known as 'Hampster Tor' because we learn from Greeves (1994) that: "One of the earliest accessible maps is that by Benjamin Donn which was published in 1765. The map contains a puzzling and amusing juxtaposition of 'Hampster Tor' and 'Linx Tor' overlooking the River Lyd, the first name being apparently unknown on the moor today. However the explanation is probably quite straightforward. Dartmoor speech quite frequently repeats the element 'tor' in a name, as at Higher and Lower Hartor Tors overlooking the River Plym, or at Laughter Tor south of Postbridge. Donn had clearly recorded a variation of the modern Arms Tor which would easily become Armster Tor and hence Hampster Tor. The only remaining puzzle is why Donn's tors have been transposed." You can learn more here.
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