TORS OF DARTMOOR
a database of both lesser- & well-known rocks and outcrops
Broad Rock Easily missed, this granite rock, on the Abbot's Way, is inscribed 'BB Broad Rock' and was a boundary stone for Blachford Manor. Its location along with Arme Head Stone is very isolated on the South Moor. The most accurate grid reference (GR) is SX 61850 67243.  Hemery writes in High Dartmoor - Land and People (1983); "This broad, flat bedrock, of no great size, its surface only three feet above the turf, is of some geographical significance on Dartmoor, being the meeting-point of forest, parish and manor boundaries - as well as marking the Jobbers' Path... Broad Rock is inscribed with its name and the letters BB, which represents Blachford (manorial) Bounds."  Dave Brewer (1986) describes it further with a helpful GR and a nice sketch of the stone in A Field Guide to the Boundary Markers on and around Dartmoor. In part 2 of The Forest of Dartmoor (page 55) the Reverend H. Hugh Breton (1932) gives this fascinating insight of a once sign at the site; "A pole standing up with a notice board fixed to it. This is Broad Rock, the Cranmere of the southern quarter of the moor." Strangely he makes no mention of the inscription on the rock and we have to wait some 50 years or so later for both Hemery and Brewer accounts. It is also included in Ken Ringwood's Dartmoor's Tors and Rocks book from 2013.  It is always difficult to espy in an otherwise featureless expanse of moor; it is hoped the 10 figure GR will help with the discovery of Broad Rock for future visitors.
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