TORS OF DARTMOOR
a database of both lesser- & well-known rocks and outcrops
Steeperton Gorge Rocks The name conjures up visions of a dramatic cataract but in truth the valley nestled between the hills of Steeperton and the Oke Tor Ridge, whilst appealing in its own way, is lacking in any substantial outcrops. The most significant can be found some 10 metres above the left bank of the river where it exits the gorge to the south.  The visitor will see a scruffy pile emerging from the slopes of the ridge surrounded by bracken and whortleberry. The southerly section is the larger and more concentrated collection of granite, consisting half a dozen boulders of interest.  The Gorge is an enjoyable walk, with care taken, that can be tackled from either side of the tumbling waters of the River Taw. Granite boulders that are espied on its slopes are largely dominated by vegetation and the bulk of clitter has been used to build a wall that lines the left bank. Hemery, in High Dartmoor, explains that this is the 'Irishman's Wall', its better part known where it crosses east to west over Belstone Tor; "The southern portion of this wall is no more than an incredibly laborious token of enclosure; not only was it abortive, but it here threads Steeperton Gorge, where the gradient on either side of the river is such as even Scotch sheep avoid." 
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