Dartmoor & Exmoor
Brown's House Top
539M
1768FT
About Brown's House Top
Rising within the remote, high-altitude wilderness of the North Moor, this rounded summit is defined by its isolation and infamously boggy terrain. The name stems from the nearby ruins of a nineteenth-century shepherd's dwelling, offering a stark reminder of past attempts to settle this unforgiving and exposed landscape.
Key Statistics
Rank
11th Highest in Region
Parent Range
Dartmoor
Prominence
?
25m
Nearest Town
West Devon
Geology
You are walking on solid granite. This durable rock formed deep underground as molten material from the Dartmoor Intrusion cooled and hardened.
Classifications
Find It
OS Grid Reference
SX614804
Latitude
50.6068°N
Longitude
3.9601°W
Did You Know?
- •The name originates from the ruins of a stone cottage built around 1810 by a farmer named Brown, whose attempt to cultivate this high, acidic ground lasted only a few years before the site was abandoned.
- •Situated in the heart of the North Moor wilderness, the summit provides an excellent vantage point for viewing the jagged profile of Fur Tor and the rounded, dark mass of Great Kneeset.
- •The terrain is famously difficult; the high-altitude peat hags and mires surrounding the top are some of the most extensive and challenging to traverse in the National Park.
- •Navigating to this point usually requires a long, pathless approach from either Postbridge to the south or the Meldon Reservoir to the north, often involving a crossing of the temperamental Amicombe Brook.
- •A trip to this summit is best viewed as a character-building exercise in the specific Dartmoor art of extracting one's leg from a waist-deep bog.