Princetown Walk to South Hessary Tor

Princetown Walk to South Hessary Tor is a 3 km (1.9 mile) out-and-back from Princetown Car Park, following the same line back. Allow about one hour. It starts on village pavement, passes the Plume of Feathers, then uses a gravel bridleway to the rocky tor. It’s a manageable way to reach open Dartmoor without taking on a longer tor circuit.

Follow the pavement toward the Plume, cross the road and take the road on the pub’s left. After a short road section, a gate leads onto open moor. Underfoot, the bridleway is gravel, with gentle inclines, granite cross-drains and a small granite bridge. Past the gate, the route crosses grass, heather, peat blanket bogs and valley mires, with little shelter in cold, windy weather. This stretch is part of the Abbot’s Way, a trans-moor route first mentioned in 1794 and locally known as Jobblers’ or Jobbers’ Path.

South Hessary Tor is a rocky outcrop with wide views across Dartmoor; on clear days, you can see down to Plymouth Sound. Turn around here and retrace the bridleway. The open moor reflects a long history of grazing by ponies, cattle and sheep. At the start in Princetown, toilets, pubs, cafés and the National Park Visitor Centre are nearby; the Plume of Feathers dates to 1785, more than twenty years before the prison. For a photo, frame the tor rocks with open moor in the foreground.