Dartmoor is the English landscape associated with the Baskerville family in The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1902 novel places the Baskerville estate in Devon, on and around the bleak Dartmoor landscape. A family legend claims that a supernatural hound has pursued the Baskervilles for generations, and Sir Charles Baskerville’s death appears to support the frightening story.
Sherlock Holmes initially remains in London while Dr. John Watson travels to Devon to protect Sir Henry Baskerville and investigate the circumstances. The moor’s open spaces, fog, marshes, and isolated buildings create an atmosphere in which natural explanations can seem supernatural.
Dartmoor is a real national park and moorland area in Devon. The novel uses recognizable regional features but fictionalizes locations, including Baskerville Hall and the Grimpen Mire. The story is one of the best-known Holmes works, despite being set after Holmes had apparently died in “The Final Problem.”