Brent Tor: National Grid Reference: SX 471 804 The small church of St. Michael de Rupe is situated about one and a half miles north west of Mary Tavy. It can be seen from places as far apart as Plymouth Sound in the South and Bradworthy in the North of Devon.
To those who live in Devon, or travel around the region, Brent Tor is a much-loved landmark, even an icon. When you walk or drive through the twisting Devon lanes in the quiet rural countryside nearby, Brent Tor will pop in and out of sight, like a friend who is saying hello. It is a sacred and mysterious place and yet it is also human and intimate in scale, unlike the stark grandeur of Dartmoor that overlooks it to the south.
It is one of the smallest churches in England, dating perhaps from 1155, perched on a cone of basaltic lava that erupted under the sea back in Lower Carboniferous times. These volcanic rocks are of great interest to the geologist, and include pillow lava breccias and basaltic hyaloclastites.
The history of the church is fascinating too. Brent Tor is a Grade 1 Listed building and scheduled ancient monument The tor was once surrounded by ancient Iron age fortifications. According to legend the church was built by a wealthy merchant whose ship was caught in a violent storm. Fearing that the ship would capsize, he prayed to God that if he were saved he would build a church on the first piece of land that he saw. Perhaps he saw the tor from Plymouth Sound itself... who knows? Another legend has it that the Devil tried to destroy the church when it was first built, and St. Michael himself became involved.
Interestingly, St. Michael is often associated with hill tops, such as St. Michael`s Mount, so perhaps he should be a patron saint of all of us who are fighting to save the hills from the scourge of industrialisation.. Two other churches dedicated to St. Michael feature in the Exhibition of paintings at the Queen`s Theatre. The church of St. Michael and All Angels at Marwood is in the range of hills where the proposed Fullabrook Down Wind Farm Site could be, and .the walk finished at the hill-top town of Great Torrington, known as England`s Jerusalem. Torrington`s Parish Church is dedicated to St. Michael and All Angels, and the Higher Darracott turbines if built will be on a ridge that is higher than the church tower.
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