Buckland Beacon is a

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) 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 cools and solidifies undergro ...

tor Tor, TOR or ToR may refer to: Places * 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 River, Western New Guinea, Indonesia Sc ...

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

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

, 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 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 (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ� ...

. 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 name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...

. The proposed revisions would have aligned the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

more closely with

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

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 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 parliament. ...

, 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 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 1926 – 8 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. She was queen ...

References

Tors of Dartmoor Dartmoor {{UK-geology-stub