By: Blonde One

 

Some people think it is made of sugar and spice and all things nice but what it’s actually made of is a tad harder. Granite in fact.

The granite tors are what defines Dartmoor and helps to keep the visitors coming, either to climb them or use them as checkpoints on a walk. It is a hard and durable igneous rock that was formed approximately 300 million years ago and has been used as a building stone for 4000 years on the moors.

 

It is made up of three minerals: mica, feldspar and quartz and is fascinating to examine in close detail as well as from a distance. The landscape would be barren and bleak without it and the history of Dartmoor would be less rich too.

Why not come and have a look at some of our interesting shaped tors when you’re out on your next walk?

Someone very close to me once suggested at an interview for a potential Geography teaching job that they loved rocks! I wholeheartedly agree!