TORS OF DARTMOOR
a database of both lesser & well-known rocks and outcrops
Great Rock Copse Tor
 In the heart of the wood some 300 metres to the east of Great Rock there is a third grand tor. Hidden mine shafts reside both sides of the public footpath so it is not advised to stray, however in the case of this tor much of it straddles the path where the walker can obtain perfectly fine views of the rock stacks.  The tor is essentially split into two main sections by the aforementioned path, but the lower is the more attractive outcrop, a rounded rock perched atop a cliff with climbing plants giving it a colourful look. Tim Jenkinson was the first it seems to describe the tor in Greatrock Wood that is sufficiently detached from Great Rock itself to warrant its own identity. Several TWM (Torquay Water Main) marker stones dated 1858 survive in the area and one example at Great Rock Copse Tor can be found at SX 8243 8172.  Tim (2017), in his Dartmoor Magazine article about the wood, explains that "Its date of 1858 signifies the laying of the original cast iron pipes from the old mill pond and streams at Tottiford (SX 810833) to supply water to the rapidly growing population of the town, covering a total distance of some 24,522 yards from the source (Chapman 1925). However, both system and supply were soon found to be inadequate and so a reservoir was built at Tottiford in 1861 along with service reservoirs in Newton Abbot and on Chapel Hill in Torquay (Chapham 1925). Eventually the demand for water was such that it necessitated the construction of two more reservoirs at Kennick (SX 804844) in 1884 and Trenchford (SX 804824) in 1907 (Jones 2013)." 
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