ABSTRACT
TThe dramatic stepped spinal ridge of Brown Willy rises to 420 m. It is the highest point on Bodmin Moor and in Cornwall, and one of the most memorable, distinctive, and impressive landscape features and topographic points of reference on the moor. From the south or the north, it appears as a huge grey pyramid. From the west and the east, its distinctive profile appears as a series of four great craggy steps rising gradually to the north. Although slightly concave in form, the profile of the ridge on the western and eastern sides is particularly steep, appearing to rise up at an angle of 45 degrees to the ridge top. The ridge acts as a formidable topographic barrier to movement across the north of Bodmin Moor from west to east (or vice versa). Dominating the western skyline from Leskernick and the eastern skyline from Rough Tor South and Garrow Tor, it visually blocks all views across the moor further to the west or the east creating distinctive worlds on either side of it.
