Steeperton Tor

About Steeperton Tor

Rising with an unusually symmetrical, conical profile above the upper reaches of the River Taw, this distinctive Dartmoor Tump offers a sharp, direct climb. The summit granite provides a fine vantage point over the expansive Taw Marsh and the neighbouring whaleback ridges of Oke Tor and Wild Tor.

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Did You Know?

• •The name is a survival of the Old English 'steap', meaning lofty or steep; unlike many Dartmoor tors with obscured etymologies, Steeperton simply describes the sharp, symmetrical profile that stands in contrast to the surrounding plateau.
• •Located within the Okehampton Firing Range, the summit is marked by the ruins of a stone military observation hut, once used to monitor shell falls across the northern moor.
• •The most dramatic approach begins at the village of Belstone, following the River Taw through the granite-strewn Taw Marsh before a direct, lung-bursting ascent of the tor’s northern flank.
• •From the summit, the view south-west across the Steeperton Brook reveals the vast, desolate peat hags of the central northern plateau, leading the eye toward the high point of Hangingstone Hill.
• •In a landscape of subtle, rolling peat bogs and rounded ridges, Steeperton Tor is one of the few hills on Dartmoor that has the common decency to look exactly like its name suggests it should.