TORS OF DARTMOOR
a database of both lesser- & well-known rocks and outcrops
Standon HillStandon Down, Stanon Hill
 Rising up from the western foothills of Dartmoor is Standon Hill, a large domed hill that has a considerable amount of clitter strewn about the slopes that makes for difficult progress from the south-west flank. The summit is rather flat and grassy with two military range huts standing amid a modest ruined tor that is composed of low granite outcrops just off the top of the hill.  There are two main masses that are both broken by reeds that have taken refuge on this exposed hill, but it is the highest that has a ring cairn embedded into the outcrop. With clitter in between, these outcrops are easy to overlook but the rock-field below is suggestive of a once grand tor that today has been mangled into loose boulders and scree.  In fact, it is this characteristic that has given the hill its name, for 'stennen' and 'stannon' mean 'stony'. Eric Hemery goes on; "A curious feature - though I believe it is entirely natural - appears north of the rocks, where an exact alignment, or 'row' of four boulders, each resting on bedrock, ascends eastward from the brow of the hill." Despite the poor tor here, there are some impressive outlooks including, to the south, the steep north face of Bagga Tor which reveals itself to be a dramatic cliff spilling into the enclosures above Baggator Farm. Northward, the North Moor stretches beyond to the prominent bosses of Hare Tor and Great Links Tor on the western escarpment. 
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