TORS OF DARTMOOR
a database of both lesser- & well-known rocks and outcrops
Wood Hill Higher Tor When the Wood Hill Tors were first discovered by Tim Jenkinson in March 2016 access to the rocks was extremely difficult, as they were cloaked in a canopy of suffocating conifer trees. However, extensive clearing of the wood in 2018 meant that a subsequent visit by the Tors of Dartmoor Team in October 2019 gave the opportunity to see both tors in daylight and whilst reaching them was a little easier the route was still hampered by tripping over the debris of discarded branches and amputated tree trunks.  The higher tor is appreciably less impressive than its nearby counterpart on account of the excavations in the hillside undertaken at Westcott Quarry, which was active by 1829. Nick Walter (2018) explains that the quarry was worked by a number of companies, notably Hutchings and Spry and J. Easton & Son. A Mr. Dickson (who we assume to be J. Harvey Dickson) is recorded as the lessee of the quarry in 1904. Dickson, who was known locally as 'Paddy Dixon', included Westcott Quarry as part of his Devon Basalt & Granite Co Ltd 5 years later in 1909, along with other quarries at Trusham and Bridford.  In March 1904, a fatal accident occurred at Westcott Quarry, with Mr. Dickson present. An article in the Western Times explains that: "Frank Wellington, 21, was killed at Westcott Quarry, near Moretonhampstead, on Thursday, when engaged with several other men in moving some large rocks. Much sympathy is felt at Moretonhampstead for the young man's parents." Later, an inquiry was held into the young man's death and this article provides further details of the incident: "The deceased, with George Gilbert, foreman of the quarry, and others, were engaged in attaching a chain to a large stone, when another from above, weighing nearly three tons, fell on deceased, crushing his body and severing one of his feet. By the time the doctor arrived the man had been released, but was, of course, dead." It is a tragic story. The quarry was last mentioned in 1913 when it was advertised to be let and is the last reference we have, whereupon we assume it ceased all operations.  It ripped the heart out of the tor here and all we have left is a few scruffy embedded outcrops with a lonely jagged overhang perched at the very edge of the precipice into the long-abandoned workings. To compensate there are currently some lovely views over the treetops to the west.
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