High Willhays High Willhays High Willhays or, according to some authors, High Willes is the highest point on Dartmoor, Devon, at above sea level, and the highest point in the United Kingdom south of the Brecon Beacons. In 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
Cosdon Hill highest point at , but it was now known that the neighbouring High Willhays was yet higher, at . From the summit of Cosdon it is often possible to see the English Channel from Teignmouth to Start Point, and on a clear day the Bristol Channel may be visible. The hill provides an excellent view over Dartmoor. As Thomas Clifton Paris wrote in 1865, "Far and wide stretch its desolate hills, the ancient haunt of wolves and wild deer, and barbarians as untamed ; a solitary wondrous region, everywhere darkened by morasses, but piled with fantastic rocks and glowing with