High Willhays

High Willhays or, according to some authors, High Willes is the highest point on Dartmoor, Devon, at 2039ft above sea level, and the highest point in the United Kingdom south of the Brecon Beacons.ToponymyIn 1912, William Crossing, writer and documenter, said that the name High Willes had been thought to have derived from the word huel or wheal meaning mine, but he did not think that very likely as old mine workings were invariably located near to streams. He suggested instead that the name derived from gwylfa, a watching place, noting its similarity with Brown Willy, the name of the highest hill on nearby Bodmin Moor, and suggested that a watch for beacon fires used to be kept here. He also posited a possible link to the word gwili meaning winding or tortuous, but said it was unlikely this was where it originated from.The Place-Names of Devon (1931) notes that the peak was named Hight Wyll in a document of 1532, and was known in 1827 as High Willows. The authors state that the name may simply be a compound of high and well (meaning spring), though they admit that the additional syllable at the end is hard to explain.TopographyHigh Willhays is near the northwestern edge of Dartmoor, about 2.5km south east of Meldon Reservoir and about 5km south of the town of Okehampton. Although it is the highest point of the moor, it is relatively insignificant in comparison to most of the moor's tors, consisting of no more than a few low outcrops of rock along a north-south ridge. The largest outcrop is crowned with a cairn. The more impressive, but slightly lower, Yes Tor is about 1km north along this ridge, which is known as "the roof of Devon".