West Mill Tor

About West Mill Tor

Positioned on the northern fringes of Dartmoor, this 542m granite outcrop provides a quieter vantage point than the nearby giants of Yes Tor and High Willhays. The summit is characterised by weathered rock stacks and sprawling clitter slopes, offering views that reach north across the Devon heartland toward the silhouettes of Exmoor.

Key Statistics

Find It

Did You Know?

• •The term 'Tor' is derived from the Old English 'torr', which likely shares roots with the Welsh 'twr', meaning a tower or peak. 'West Mill' distinguishes it from its neighbor, East Mill Tor, with both names likely referencing historical milling or mining works in the valleys below.
• •This tor is situated within the Okehampton Training Area, an active military firing range. Access is only permitted when red flags are not flying; these signals are hoisted on the summit and other high points to warn of live-fire exercises.
• •From the summit stacks, you can see the deep v-shaped incision of the West Ockment valley to the west and the massive, rounded profiles of Yes Tor and High Willhays—the two highest points on Dartmoor—looming to the south.
• •The slopes are notably covered in 'clitter', a local term for the scatter of frost-shattered granite boulders that have tumbled from the tor over millennia, making the final approach more of a scramble than a stroll.
• •If the granite stacks look like they were piled up by a giant with a penchant for masonry, remember that these weathered layers, known as pseudostratification, are actually the result of millions of years of natural erosion.