ROCK IDOLS – DARTMOOR’S EXTRAORDINARY TORS

Event information

Fantastical yet natural, Dartmoor’s 280-million-year-old tors are among the most iconic landmarks in southern Britain. Victorian antiquarians described them as ‘rock idols’, believing them to be stone deities worshipped by the Druids. Thousands of years before that, they inspired our ancestors who built ceremonial stone rows and circles aligned on them.

So what is it about stone that compels? In their new book, Rock Idols, Dartmoor locals Alex Murdin and Sophie Pierce pay homage to these fantastical forms in words and drawings, exploring their emotional power, the myths that surround them and the stories they tell.

They will be joined by acclaimed author Wyl Menmuir whose best-selling books bring us to closer understanding of the elemental forces of the natural world and who is writing a new book The Spirit of Stone, due out next year.

Wyl Menmuir is a Booker-longlisted novelist and author of The Heart of the Woods, and The Draw of the Sea. His new book, The Spirit of Stone, will be published in 2026. 

Alex Murdin is an artist who draws to connect human and non-human worlds. Rock Idols is his first book.

Sophie Pierce is the author of The Green Hill, a memoir about love, loss and the Devon landscape, as well as five wild swimming guides.


This is part of the first Dartmoor Tors Festival. Tickets for events at Asburton Arts Centre and Field System gallery are all at wegottickets.com/dartmoortorsfestival. All of the festival events are at dartmoortorsfestival.co.uk

See Access, Tickets & Finding Us for more about why there are three ticket prices, plus other useful info about coming to events at Ashburton Arts Centre.
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