TORS OF DARTMOOR
a database of both lesser- & well-known rocks and outcrops
Great Staple TorGreat Steeple Tor, Great Stapletor, Great Steepletor, Staple Tors, Great Roose Tor
 The views from Great Staple Tor are spread across West Dartmoor towards other notable peaks. The tor itself is one of the best on the entire moor and is revered for its distinctive avenue that is set between the two main stacks, which although rise to a rather modest elevation of 455 metres above sea level readily feature in many photographs on postcards and calendars on account of their quirky appearance. Readily accessible from the B3357 road just to the west of Merrivale, the tor has become a focal point for many authors and photographers who have been captivated by the tor's ruggedness. The name of 'Great Staple' on OS maps is actually a phonetic misnomer; it should read 'Great Steeple', honouring the huge towers, or 'steeples', of granite that guard the inner moor from the south.  One of the earliest and most thorough commentators on the stature of the tor was William Crossing (1912) who gives this account: "The rocks of Great Staple Tor assume very fantastic shapes, and in some instances are poised in such a manner as to induce the beholder to believe that a very slight effort would suffice to overthrow them. It is a striking tor from whichever side it is beheld but becomes really impressive when approached. It consists of several piles of rocks, with a large area clothed with short turf in the centre, and an immense number of scattered rocks, that speak only too plainly of the havoc the forces of Nature have wrought on this stupendous granite citadel."  The proliferation of clitter strewn beneath the tor particularly on the eastern slopes is one of the most staggering to be seen anywhere on the open moor, and it is little wonder that this easily accessible and plentiful granite moorstone was exploited by the stonecutter in the 19th C. On the south-eastern slopes of the tor there are numerous so-called 'sett makers' bankers' surviving. These were built and used to facilitate the manufacture of granite street cobbles which were increasing in demand for Tavistock and Plymouth as new pavements were being laid. The moormen knelt down beside the bankers to carry out their work. The setts are described as: "a lasting testament to the moormen of the second half of the nineteenth century, who toiled long hours for poor pay, sometimes in atrocious weather conditions..." (Dell and Bright, 2008.)  The second-highest part of the tor is nicknamed the 'wonky stack' (photo above) and has been used by that name in many Dartmoor letterbox clues from the 1980s onwards. The curious tower has two further rock basins and also an example of what appears to be a tolmen described by A.E. Bray (1844). On Dartmoor, a 'tolmen' is a holed stone, or rather an aperture between rocks that resembles a gap in the rock. Bray adds: "a stone, nine feet long, and six wide, is supported by two other stones. One of the supports is placed on the very edge of the rock." This description is supported by two drawings. It seems, however, that the weaker stone on the outer edge has been moved and the long rock atop now is slanting. In 2021 Peter Freeman compared his photos of the toppled tolmen to Bray's sketches which place it at SX 54188 76021.
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