Vixen Tor is one of Dartmoor’s largest most striking natural features and until 2003 had been enjoyed by locals, walkers and climbers alike.
We believe that such a stunning wild place should be open to all and will not give up in trying to restore the open access we all once enjoyed. Thank you to everyone who submitted evidence forms to us, stating that they have visited the area. The public Inquiry into the case is happening in Princetown, Devon on 23 November 2010. For more information please see our press release.
The History of the Tor
Today it sits behind barbed wire fences and has “Keep Out” painted in large letters on its majestic stone sides due to the present owners dislike of sharing the countryside with others.
The Tor was closed to the public in 2003 after more than thirty years of open access, it had been hoped that access would be restored under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act but after an appeal by the landowner it was decided at a public inquiry it should be removed from the new access maps.
Since then many attempts at negotiating permissive access have been tried and failed. The Dartmoor National Park Authority offered the landowner £1,500 a year for a permissive access agreement and former UN peace negotiator to Bosnia Colonel Bob Stewart, as part of Channel 5 TV programme, was brought to try and help, all to no avail and the Tor remains closed off to all but sheep.
