TORS OF DARTMOOR
a database of both lesser- & well-known rocks and outcrops
Legis TorLeggis Tor, New Warren Tor
 This is a splendidly ruined granite tor sitting above the River Plym on the southern edge of Ringmoor Down. Set on a spur, it consists of four main outcrops, all possessing very good views. Much of the granite here is pink in colour and this is obvious by just examining the rocks. Josephine Collingwood (2017) elaborates: "The granite is pink due to an altered granite composition: black tourmaline schorl has a high iron content which has stained the granite during mineralisation in veins."  In his book High Dartmoor (p186) Eric Hemery (1983) states: "The four piles of Legis Tor (1,008 feet) would look immensely impressive on a hilltop; but the base, which they have extensively clittered, is merely a gentle slope... Legistor Warren was referred to as 'New Warren' and the tor as 'New Warren Tor'. There is an excellent view from the tor of the Plym's middle reach." Close by there is a vermin trap (or simply 'trap') set up by mid 19th Century warreners to catch stoats and weasels that preyed on the rabbits here. It is one of Dartmoor's best known examples and RH Worth refers to it in 1943 whilst exhibiting its slate shutter during a meeting of the Plymouth and District Branch of the Devonshire Association, to discuss 'Maori Relics in Devon'. He advises that such traps seem to have been in use from about 1847 and their peculiar structure led earlier antiquaries to believe incorrectly that they had something to do with early military fortifications on the moor.  Legis Tor also features regularly in accounts of the hunting fraternity's activities in the Western Times of the 1920s and 1930s, but most often without success. It seems that the rocky terrain referred to above usually thwarted the chasing pack as their quarry (the fox) would go to ground amid the boulders and the scent was soon lost. To the north of the tor is the aforementioned Ringmoor Down this being used for military manoeuvres in the late 19th Century, that on one occasion saw the accumulation of up to ten thousand men as reported in The Sun and Central Press of August 2nd 1873.  Always viewed as a controversial site by local people, there was still concern over its use for this purpose in the mid 20th Century with Lady Aileen Fox speaking on behalf of the Devon Archaeological Society in 1950, remarking "that it was not in the public interest to allow damaging training on Ringmoor Down because the area contains a remarkable concentration of prehistoric antiquities of all periods." Two sites of special importance are highlighted in her speech, these being Legis Tor and Trowlesworthy Warren and for that reason "they should be excluded from training." The main concerns over the military manoeuvres at that time were the unauthorised digging of holes and trenches across the Down, along with the diversion of streams and leats along with damage caused to the moor by Service vehicles. To this day Ringmoor Down is still used for 'dry training' purposes but there is no live ammunition, only blanks and pyrotechnics and there are no restrictions in terms of public access, for as according to the DNPA website "the focus is on adventurous and tactical battle training."
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