Brick Tor

That's just my name for it, it's actually the Rippon Tor Rifle Range, a hangover from 1941, the dark days of WW2, when it was built to train cadets to use rifles. The biggest bit is the huge brick stop butt which is 9.2 metres high and 55 metres wide. On the opposite butt is the markers' gallery, which still holds the rusting machinery that once operated the raising and lowering of the targets. I'm told that the sloping area is full of 303 bullets but I haven't investigated that.The range was active until the mid sixties and the lease expired in 1977. It remains there as a historical monument. Some think it's an eyesore but personally I think that Dartmoor has had so many uses through history and this is just an example of that diversity. 

I've added some extras of the target winding machinery and other views of the environment and I'll tag it for Derelict Sunday. Thanks to Marlieske for hosting.