Fox Tor is a relatively minor

tor Tor, TOR or ToR may refer to: Places * Tor, Pallars, a village in Spain * Tor, former name of Sloviansk, Ukraine, a city * Mount Tor, Tasmania, Australia, an extinct volcano * Tor Bay, Devon, England * Tor River, Western New Guinea, Indonesia Sc ...

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous ...

in the county of

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, England. On the flank of the tor, about 500 m to the north stands

Childe's Tomb Childe's Tomb is a granite cross on Dartmoor, Devon, England. Although not in its original form, it is more elaborate than most of the crosses on Dartmoor, being raised upon a constructed base, and it is known that a kistvaen is underneath. A ...

- according to local legend, the last resting place of Childe the Hunter, an unfortunate traveller who died there during a blizzard. About 800 m. NNE of the tor lie the remains of Foxtor Farm, which was used by

Eden Phillpotts Eden Phillpotts (4 November 1862 – 29 December 1960) was an English author, poet and dramatist. He was born in Mount Abu, India, was educated in Plymouth, Devon, and worked as an insurance officer for ten years before studying for the stage a ...

as one of the main settings of his 1904 novel ''

The American Prisoner ''The American Prisoner'' is a British novel written by Eden Phillpotts and published in 1904 and adapted into a film by the same name in 1929. The story concerns an English woman who lives at Fox Tor farm, and an American captured during ...

'', and in a subsequent early "

talkie A sound film is a motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, percep ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

, made in 1929. Occupancy of Fox Tor farm lasted for fifty years, and various people tried grazing sheep on the land in short stays from 1807 to the 1880s. Little Fox Tor, also known as Yonder Tor lies about 500 m. to the east. About a kilometre north-east of the tor lies the swampy land known as Fox Tor Mires. This is said to have been the inspiration for the fictional Grimpen Mire in the novel ''

The Hound of the Baskervilles ''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' is the third of the four crime novels by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in ''The Strand Magazine'' from August 1901 to April 1902, it is set i ...

'' by

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for '' A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

. This wide expanse of

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...

bog continues to be dangerous to walkers, especially after heavy rain. There is another Fox Tor on Dartmoor, one of five outcrops on the western bank of the

River Tavy The Tavy () is a river on Dartmoor, Devon, England. The name derives from the Brythonic root "Tam", once thought to mean 'dark' but now generally understood to mean 'to flow'. It has given its name to the town of Tavistock and the villages o ...

in woodland north of

Peter Tavy Peter Tavy () is a village along the A386, North-East of Tavistock, Devon, England; it is named after the River Tavy The Tavy () is a river on Dartmoor, Devon, England. The name derives from the Brythonic root "Tam", once thought to mean ...

, at grid reference SX514788. There is another on Bodmin Moor near

Lewannick Lewannick (; kw, Lannwenek) is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is situated approximately five miles (8 km) southwest of Launceston. The civil parish had a population of 973 at the 2011 census. ...

References

Further reading