TORS OF DARTMOOR
a database of both lesser- & well-known rocks and outcrops
Higher Hisley Tor Lustleigh Cleave is a beautiful rock-studded valley and at its crests reside many impressive rockpiles. One of the grandest of these was brought to Tim Jenkinson's attention by Steve Jenkins in 2013 and is the most striking tor in the Hisley group above the farms of the same name. Ordnance Survey Maps give little indication of a tor in this area other than a simple 209m spot height at the summit of the spur.  Climbing up to the tor from the south-west side, you first encounter some pretty impressive outlying outcrops that dominate the visitor looking up their craggy faces, but it is further up the slope where the true giant of Higher Hisley Tor is revealed - a major bulk wrapped in ivy and trees that make it hard to grasp the overall magnitude of the rockpile. Its sheer, vertical walls climb skyward and reach through the canopy whilst at ground level there are nooks and crannies that give a wild feel to this landscape.  Like other tors in the vicinity of the Cleave, Higher Hisley Tor is part involved with fields on the edge of the woodland and this is immediately apparent when trying to access the summit rocks which is impossible. A barbed wire fence forms the boundary here and further outcrops extend behind into private fields eastward, one of which can be viewed from the road by Pethybridge from a gate to the north at SX 77937 80900. 
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