TORS OF DARTMOOR
a database of both lesser- & well-known rocks and outcrops
Trendlebere TorTor in the Woods
 This is a simply magnificent lesser-known tor that, until it was discovered by Tim Jenkinson (TJ) in January 2015, had not been described before. TJ made an enquiry in the letters page of Dartmoor Magazine (DM) later in the same year but, sadly, this revealed little information about the long-lost tor which is quite extraordinary when you take into account the sheer scale of the exposed granite on the slopes here. TJ's letter includes the approximate height of the tor; "It stands high above Becky Brook that can be heard in the valley below and it culminates on the north side in a giant split cliff that rises to some 30 foot in height or more."  From the road on the western side of Trendlebere Down, a wide grassy track, running between bracken and gorse, heads northward downhill and then hooks to the left where it reaches the top of the woodland. Here the hillside drops away abruptly in dramatic fashion, the woodland carpet strewn with leaves, and it is not long before you are confronted with the 'Tor in the Woods', a small upright rock providing an appetiser of what's below. What at first appears to be a modest outcrop soon reveals itself to be a monster of a woodland tor as you carefully round its base. In his second installment of 'The Rock Piles of East Dartmoor' series in DM, TJ adds that "Although part of the rocks here are shown on OS maps they are not named, and nobody seems to have written about them in the literature."  From below, the giant rock stack rears its head from the steep slope with a huge boulder perched at its top, the stack is remarkably pale and less moss-covered than the substance of other woodland tors on East Dartmoor. It is interesting to note that the tor's composition is granite, whereas the surrounding bedrock is metamorphic rock as shown on the British Geology Survey map. Although the tor can be found with relative ease, you must be extremely careful when traversing the slopes above the Becka Brook because they are steep, slippery and provide little grip, even with the best footwear. A visit in winter is best advised when you can marvel at the massive tower of granite. 
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