Gutter Tor

About Gutter Tor

Sitting above the Drizzlecombe valley in southern Dartmoor, this accessible granite tor provides a grandstand view of the Plym’s headwaters. Characterised by scattered clitter and a modest summit ridge, it offers an easy ascent with rewarding vistas across to the brooding mass of Sheeps Tor and the waters of Burrator Reservoir.

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Did You Know?

• •The name is likely linked to the extensive tin mining history of the surrounding Plym Valley, where "gutters" or artificial channels were cut into the hillsides to divert water for streaming operations.
• •The tor overlooks Ditsworthy Warren House, an isolated 18th-century farmstead that was used as a primary filming location for the Narracott family home in Steven Spielberg’s film War Horse.
• •Its eastern slopes drop toward Drizzlecombe, home to one of Dartmoor’s most significant prehistoric landscapes, featuring three large stone rows and the 4.3-metre-high menhir known as the Bone Pillar.
• •On a clear day, the view extends past the nearby granite ruins of the Eylesbarrow tin mine and follows the course of the River Plym all the way to the glitter of Plymouth Sound on the horizon.
• •The "clitter" — the carpet of loose granite boulders surrounding the tor — is particularly extensive here, proving that even a modest hill can offer a genuine ankle-turning challenge to the careless walker.