TORS OF DARTMOOR
a database of both lesser- & well-known rocks and outcrops
Tunhill RocksThe Poet's Corner, Tinhill Tor
 Tunhill Rocks is a magnificent tor sprawling on the hillside and is thought by some to be the fictional 'Dream Tor' to which the Dartmoor author and poet Beatrice Chase referred to. She lived at nearby Venton for many years and could see the rockpile from her house before the trees obscured the view. We learn from an extract in the Devon and Exeter Gazette that Dream Tor is certainly somewhere in the area as the author's friend and pilot Miss Enid Shortridge remarks on a flight to Dartmoor in August 1934: "Straight over Haldon, we could see Newton Abbot on the left and Bovey Tracey on the right and we passed over Hey and Saddle Tor. Then came down the side of Rippon and Dream Tor and the poet's corner and I pointed out Venton and we swooped."  But there is some conjecture about Tunhill Rocks being the Dream Tor in question because another popular alternative seems to be Top Tor. Chase wrote the following in her short article titled 'Escaped Convicts' Route' from 1939: "The men were seen on Hamildown at 3 p.m. on Sunday. They descended from there, crossed the valley road near Bag Park, and ascended Thornhill-lane under Honeybags Tor 7.30. Thence under Chinkwell and Bonehill to Widecombe Hill. Past Dream Tor to Tinhill Tor, called amongst ourselves "The Poet's Corner." At 10.30 p.m. the convicts were seen striking matches under this tor which is just above Venton." From this description, we can confidently deduce that 'Tinhill Tor' is what we know today as Tunhill Rocks. Therefore it cannot possibly be Dream Tor, and to further solidify this assertion, Chase, in her book 'The Heart of the Moor' (1914), waxes-lyrical about the view from Dream Tor: "Between me and distant Teignmouth rose the faithful sentinels, Hey, Saddle and Rippon. North of east were the crouching heads of the mighty Hound Tor..." It is crucial to note that Hound Tor is visible from Top Tor but not Tunhill Rocks or neighbouring Pil Tor which again rules out these candidates. Thurlow (1993) confidently proclaims that Top Tor is indeed 'Dream Tor', concluding that "as she included a photograph of this one in her book The Heart of the Moor it wasn't difficult to confirm its true identity."  Terry Bound (1991) is incredibly dismissive of Tunhill Rocks when he writes; "A scattering of boulders and stones on the slope below Pil Tor to the west of that group. A few trees grow among them, holly included. Nothing much in that, perhaps, but there's nothing of any note in this site either." We cannot understand this astonishing remark.  Eric Hemery is much more complimentary; "Due south from Hollow Tor is the north-east corner of the Tunhill enclosures and above the outer wall stands the tremendous pile of Tunhill Rocks (approx. 1,300 feet). On the east side on level ground is a small pound and hut-circle; the immense break-away of the summit rocks resembles a jigsaw puzzle in disarray, and a rock-basin on the summit prettily contains moss and stone-crop." There is a well preserved granite trough on the north-west slope, at SX 73141 75829, that the author suggests might have been abandoned because of transportation difficulties.
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