Blakey Tor

Blackbrook Tor, Blackey Tor, Blakeley Tor, Colden Tor (Crossing), Courton Tor, La Blaketor

This is a very large granite tor overlooking the Blackbrook River to the north that, despite its size, does not appear on the popular OS Maps. Nearby is a poised rock, possibly an unrecorded logan stone.

Called Colden Tor by William Crossing, Eric Hemery summarises the confusion; "This comprises the clitter and piles of Blakey or Colden Tor (1,200 feet), which in a document of 1291 appears as La Blaketor. Did Crossing actually trouble to visit the tor, I wonder? His sole reference to it in his Guide is as 'The small pile of rocks which seem to have formerly borne the name of Colden Tor'. The tor admittedly appears relatively uninteresting to the distant viewer - from the B3357 road for example - but on closer aquaintance becomes impressive."

It seems that the tor by a slightly different name often featured in the accounts of the annual Hunting Week in the Western Morning News. One extract from May 1st 1896 under the heading 'Dartmoor Harrier Hunt Week - A Clinking Run' reads as follows "'Puss' was making away for Blakeley Tor when she was headed by some young and impetuous followers of the hunt and turned sharp to the right towards Whiteworks", Puss or 'Old Puss' along with 'Jack' being 19th Century nicknames for a hare on Dartmoor. Blakey Tor is shown on a map in a report by Arthur B. Prowse as 'Blackbrook Tor', a name certainly derived from the river below. It is strange that a near neighbour, Round Hill Tor, should not be marked, however.

Blakey Tor
The map above is not a navigation tool and we recommend that the grid reference shown below is used in conjunction with an Ordnance Survey map and that training in its use with a compass is advised.
Grid Ref:	SX 6128 7366
Height:	365m
Parish:	Dartmoor Forest
Tor Classification:	Summit
Access:	Public
Rock Type:	Granite
Credit:	William Crossing Eric Hemery The British Newspaper Archive Arthur B. Prowse
Reference:	William Crossing: Guide to Dartmoor Eric Hemery: High Dartmoor The British Newspaper Archive: Western Morning News (1st May 1896) - Dartmoor Harrier Hunt Week - A Clinking Run Arthur B. Prowse (1901): The Paper on The Antiquities of Roundhill and Ockery

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