Curios: Dartmoor's Greatest Rock Pile

A modern Ordnance Survey map of Dartmoor shows us three tors with Hound in their name: two are simply called Hound Tor, while the third is Little Hound Tor. Of these, by far the most impressive is the one shown above. The two tiny human figures seen against the skyline give one a measure of the immensity of the exceptional granite rock formation that makes up the Hound Tor near Manaton on the eastern edge of the moor. The other two stand close to each other to the north of the moor.

It has been suggested widely that Arthur Conan Doyle drew inspiration from Hound Tor for the plot of Sherlock Holmes' most famous adventure, The Hound of the Baskervilles. Not so, according to Philip Weller in his comprehensive and entertaining background analysis of the story, The Hound of the Baskervilles: Hunting the Dartmoor Legend. Weller gives three plausible reasons for rejecting any association between the Hound and the Hound Tor near Manaton.

1. There is no suitable great mire or other Houndian location in the area.
2. This Tor was recorded on the particular Ordnance Survey map used by Conan Doyle as Hounter Tor, not Hound Tor.
3. If Conan Doyle had shown any interest in any of the three Hound Tors on the moor, he would surely have used them in naming a Tor in the book, as he did with the real Bellever and Vixen Tors.

Devon Perspectives