Sharp Tor, Yartor Down

• Parish: Widecombe in the Moor
• Height: 384 m
• Grid reference: SX 6865 7296
• Rock: Granite
• Also called: Yartor Down

Sharp Tor is a giant granite cone in the Dart valley, roughly halfway between Dartmeet and Ponsworthy. It has two main stacks: a blocky northern pile with widely spaced joints, and a higher, conical southern one that draws most of the attention. The best aspect is a double peak from the north-west and a rugged pyramid from the south, near Venford Reservoir. A single crooked hawthorn grows on the southern side of the rock ridge.

From the summit the view runs down the wooded Dart Gorge as it passes beneath the Bench Tors, over pasture and moorland, and as far as the English Channel beyond Torbay. On still days the roar of the river can be heard below. Eric Hemery wrote in 1983 that it gives striking views in all directions, and noted much decayed granite on the south side, where one rock basin is crumbling while others are forming, and a massive weathered rock face on the west.

The usual starting points are the car parks at Bel Tor Corner and Rowbrook Hill, with a steep but short climb from either. Dartmoor has seven tors called Sharp Tor and two spelled Sharpitor; this is the one on Yartor Down, and the nearest to Dartmeet.

This is a location on Dartmoor that has a namesake. Read more about this: Dartmoor Places With the Same Name