MARCH 2025 · GROUNDED

Church on the hill

Brent Tor, Western Dartmoor

Brent Tor is a volcanic plug, 335 metres, and at the top of it there is a church. St Michael de Rupe. Built in the twelfth century. Still in use. The decision to build a church on this particular rock, exposed to every wind from the southwest, is either an act of extreme faith or extreme impracticality, and possibly both.

Moss-covered volcanic hill with stone church tower, white rock outcrops, Brent Tor, Dartmoor — Rock and church, inseparable at distance

— The decision to build here

The approach from the west crosses open moorland. The land here is shaped by exposure — the trees are gnarled and low and bent in the direction of the prevailing wind, their crowns swept horizontal. They do not grow upward. The track runs through sparse grass and white stone breaks through the turf at intervals, the volcanic substrate pressing up through the shallow soil.

The decision to build a church on this particular rock, exposed to every wind from the southwest, is either an act of extreme faith or extreme impracticality, and possibly both.
Brent Tor — March 2025

Dirt track leading through moorland toward Brent Tor under cloudy sky, fence posts visible — Track toward the tor under heavy cloud

— The approach across moorland

From a distance the church tower reads as part of the rock rather than something placed on it. The moss on the tor walls is the same dark green as the moorland below. The exposed white rock beneath the turf matches the church's pale stonework. It is integrated in a way that more formal buildings are not.

Church tower atop grassy moorland slope with exposed white stone beneath turf, Dartmoor — White stone pressing through the turf

— Stone matching stone

Close to the summit, the wind is significant. The images from this height — the tor against a heavy grey sky, the valley patchwork visible far below — were made in the kind of weather that makes you work fast between gusts. A dirt track leading through moorland toward the tor, fence posts on one side, cloud above, the church small at the top.

Gnarled, wind-bent tree in sparse moorland with Brent Tor church distant, green valleys beyond — Tree shaped by decades of southwest wind

— What wind makes

Two images of gnarled, solitary trees on the open moorland. In both, the tree is doing the work — the wind has been a collaborator for decades, and the result is a form more interesting than anything symmetrical.

Solitary twisted tree in open moorland under stormy sky, distant patchwork farmland below — Windform under stormy sky

Full series — Church on the hill 5 photographs

Moss-covered volcanic hill with stone church tower, white rock outcrops, Brent Tor, Dartmoor

Church tower atop grassy moorland slope with exposed white stone beneath turf, Dartmoor

Gnarled, wind-bent tree in sparse moorland with Brent Tor church distant, green valleys beyond

Solitary twisted tree in open moorland under stormy sky, distant patchwork farmland below

Dirt track leading through moorland toward Brent Tor under cloudy sky, fence posts visible

Grounded Church on the hill

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