Buckland Beacon is a

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

tor Tor, TOR or ToR may refer to: Places * Toronto, Canada ** Toronto Raptors * Tor, Pallars, a village in Spain * Tor, former name of Sloviansk, Ukraine, a city * Mount Tor, Tasmania, Australia, an extinct volcano * Tor Bay, Devon, England * Tor ...

and conical beacon, near to the village of Buckland-in-the-Moor on

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, South West England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite that forms the uplands dates from the Carb ...

, England. It is well known for its Ten Commandments Stones, which are inscribed on its south eastern edge. It stands at above sea level, overlooking the Dart Valley. The elevated position meant that it was the location of a

fire beacon A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More mode ...

to warn of danger, and the tor takes its name from this role.

The Ten Commandments stones

Buckland Beacon is famous for a number of the rocks around its base having been faced and cut with the wording of the

Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (), or the Decalogue (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , ), are religious and ethical directives, structured as a covenant document, that, according to the Hebrew Bible, were given by YHWH to Moses. The text of the Ten ...

. These were commissioned in 1927 by the land owner William Whitley, then resident at Wellstor, and Lord of Buckland Manor, and completed in 1928. The carving was done by local sculptor WA Clement, who worked directly from the current prayer book. Mr Whitley ordered the Ten Commandments to be carved after he learned of plans to revise the

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the title given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christianity, Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The Book of Common Prayer (1549), fi ...

. The proposed revisions would have aligned the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

more closely with

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

teachings and practices. Whitley was a dedicated Protestant, and opposed the changes. The changes were defeated twice in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

, and the dates of these defeats in Parliament are also inscribed into the rocks, along with the verse from a hymn, and John 13:34. Also featured are the start and end dates of the carving work - December 15th 1927 - June 14th 1928. The lettering has suffered from weathering, resulting in it needing to be recut a number of times. Most recently it was recut in 2016, at the cost of £16,000.

Jubilee stone

In addition to the Ten Commandments, there is a further carved rock on the summit of the tor, called the Jubilee Stone. The Jubilee Stone was inscribed in celebration of the

Silver Jubilee of George V The Silver Jubilee of George V on 6 May 1935 marked 25 years of George V as the King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India.Harold Nicolson, ''King George V'' (1953) pp 510–532online/ref> The Jubilee was marked ...

and reads: Unlike the Ten Commandments rocks, the Jubilee Stone has not been upkept, and is now barely visible. It is also notable that the inscription states 1282ft, which is nearly {{convert, 50, ft, m shorter than the actual height of the beacon recorded by Ordnance Survey. The beacon was also used for chains of fire beacons for the

millennium celebrations The millennium celebrations were a worldwide, coordinated series of events to celebrate and commemorate the end of 1999 and the start of the year 2000 in the Gregorian calendar. The celebrations were held as marking the end of the 2nd millennium, ...

in 2000, and for subsequent jubilees, including those of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

References

Tors of Dartmoor Dartmoor