Chinkwell Tor

About Chinkwell Tor

Standing as a prominent granite landmark above Widecombe-in-the-Moor, this Dartmoor Tump offers a classic ridge walk alongside its neighbours, Honeybag and Bell Tors. The summit is marked by two distinct rocky outcrops, providing an excellent vantage point over the Webburn Valley and the patchwork fields of the eastern moor.

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Did You Know?

• •The name is thought to derive from the Old English 'cing', meaning king, suggesting the hill was once known as the King's Well, though no evidence of a spring remains at the top today.
• •The tor is almost exclusively climbed as part of a popular 'three-tor' circuit, a high-level ridge walk that connects Bell Tor, Chinkwell, and Honeybag Tor in a single sweep.
• •From the summit rocks, you get a bird's-eye view of the 'Cathedral of the Moors'—the 14th-century St Pancras Church in Widecombe—set against the backdrop of Hameldown Tor.
• •The granite here shows clear evidence of frost-shattering; over millennia, water freezing in the joints of the rock has split the original mass into the two separate piles seen today.
• •Despite the name potentially promising a well, the only thing likely to be overflowing at this height is the wind; it is one of the more exposed spots on the eastern edge of the moor.