outcrop. The hamlet, quarry and Staple Tors to the north are on the granite, while Cox Tor immediately to the west is on the metamorphic aureole, with altered Carboniferous sedimentary rocks of the Culm Measures lower down and calc-silicate hornfels and intrusive dolerite at the summit. The Merrivale Granite is coarse grained, porphyritic, with crystals that are dark grey, white/cream and orange in colour. The Merrivale Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) to the north of the hamlet was the 4000th SSSI declared in England, in 1997. Besides the quarry it includes Cox Tor, Roos Tor and Staple Tors. It has a range of periglacial landscape features, including blockfields, boulder runs and boulder stripes, formed under tundra conditions (arctic to sub-arctic climate) during the Pleistocene. It is important in understanding how the landscape of South West England and the granite tors of Devon and Cornwall were formed. See also Henry Duke, 1st Baron Merrivale Mining in Cornwall and Devon Portcullis House, 2001, last major contract for Merrivale granite References External links PAL (Premier Archaeological Landscape) description by the Dartmoor National Park Authority Illustrations and some details in the Megalithic Portal Dartmoor National Park Authority - Guide to Merrivale SSSI Merrivale Prehistoric Settlement - English Heritage Dartmoor English Heritage sites in Devon Megalithic monuments in England Villages in Devon Quarries in Devon Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Devon Archaeological sites in Devon Bronze Age sites in Devon