The Belstone Cleave Coven (all photos restored now, 13/01/18)

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Some more very helpful suggestions there, gentlemen, thank you. The engineers look tempting and I love that Reaper gravedigger.

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Still pondering on how to do the lychgate so, in the meantime I have been tiling the roof of the mausoleum/gravedigger's tea room.

[LCpl McDoom]

May not be quite you're looking for in the way of gravediggers, but these made me chuckle: http://www.warmongerminiatures.com/collections/frostgrave/products/und023-skeleton-gravediggers

 

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

I do like the one with the hat! The one coming out of the ground has given me an idea, I've got some plastic skeletons somewhere. If only I could find them!

[dinohunterpoa]

Very nice models!

The "skeleton at work" sign is PRICELESS! 

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

The Hound of the Cabells

If you were to visit Holy Trinity Church today at Buckfastleigh you will find only an empty shell. Built in the 13th century the villagers thought they might stop any interference from the Devil by building a very steep set of 196 steps to access the church. In 1849, Satanists broke into the church and lit a fire which caused considerable damage. Then, in 1992, Satanists again broke into the church and lit a fire under the altar gutting the church completely.

Holy Trinity Church, Buckfastleigh

At the time of my coven at Belstone Cleave the Squire of Buckfastleigh was one Richard Cabell, a ‘monstrously evil man’. He was a passionate fox hunter but the good people of Buckfastleigh believed he had sold his soul to the Devil.

One stormy Dartmoor night, Cabell was drinking with his fox hunting friends at his home at Brook Manor. Believing his wife to be cuckolding him Cabell, in a drunken rage, beat her severely. She managed to run out of Brook Manor, followed by her faithful hound, straight out onto the moor, hoping to avoid the enraged Cabell. But it was not to be. Squire Cabell snatched up his sword and gave chase. He caught up with her on the moor and ran her through with his rapier. At this point, the faithful hound leapt upon Squire Cabell and tore out his throat. The ghost of the hound is said to prowl the moor to this day howling for his mistress and appears to each generation of the Cabell family.

(On the 5th of July 1677 he [Richard Cabell] passed away and was laid to rest in ‘the sepulchre’ but that was only the beginning of the story. The night of his internment saw a phantom pack of hounds come baying across the moor to howl at his tomb. From that night onwards he could be found leading the phantom pack across the moor usually on the anniversary of his death. If the pack were not out hunting they could be found ranging around his grave howling and shrieking. In an attempt to lay the soul to rest the villagers built a large building around the tomb and to be doubly sure a huge slab was placed on top of the grave to stop the ghost of the squire escaping. Even after taking these measures people have reported a strange red glow emanating through the iron bars. Other folk have reported seeing a whole host of demonic creatures gathered around the grave trying to get the promised soul for their master. From: Legendary Dartmoor)

Richard Cabell's Tomb, Holy Trinity Church, Buckfastleigh

Local legend has it that if you run around Cabell’s tomb seven times and then put your hand through the bars of the tomb, the Squire’s ghost will bite your fingers! If you are visiting Buckfastleigh, why not give it a try?

If the story of Squire Cabell, his wife and the faithful hound sound familiar, there is a very good reason for it. A Devon journalist and author, Bertram Fletcher Robinson was a very good friend of one Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and took him on a tour of Dartmoor in 1901. According to legend, the coach driver for the tour was named Baskerville. Robinson told Doyle the legend of Richard Cabell inspiring Doyle to shut himself away in the Duchy Hotel in Princetown and write The Hound of the Baskervilles.

However, the point of this rather long ramble is that I thought I could not ignore this gruesome tale of Dartmoor legend without including a hound of my own, the Hound of the Cabells. He doesn’t look as scary as I would like but he’ll have to do.

The Hound of the Cabells

[Elk101]

Great to see folklore inspired gaming like this. I'm enjoying your thread.

[LCpl McDoom]

Good use of the local folklore there, that sometimes gets the players inspired to go researching themselves to come up with even more 'back-story'. Nicely done.

Devonshire Lych Gates - some simple ones:
http://www.britaininfocus.org.uk/gallery/churches---cathedrals/lych-gates/00876-peter-tavy-lychgate/
https://www.architecture.com/image-library/ribapix/image-information/poster/rousdon-devon-the-lych-gate-to-the-church-of-st-pancras/posterid/RIBA102724.html
http://www.stmichaelstorrington.org.uk/little-torrington-church.html

And one from a great site:
http://www.devonhistoricchurches.co.uk/index.php?page=upton-hellions

[Michi]

Been at Buckfastleigh Abbey Church and also crossed that hairy hands bridge - was well worth the visit.

[Malamute]

Great to see folklore inspired gaming like this. I'm enjoying your thread.

I very much agree.

I always pass by Buckfastleigh on my way to the South Hams every year and have never visited that church, I shall have to make a detour in 2017  

[dinohunterpoa]

Great to see folklore inspired gaming like this. I'm enjoying your thread.

+1

[Captain Blood]

Enjoying this thread  thank you.

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Thanks for the kind and encouraging words, everybody.

LCpl McDoom, thanks for the links. I know the Peter Tavy church and the Torrington one but the other two were new to me. Progress is being made on the lych gate for my graveyard but a vital component which I left drying overnight fell apart in my hands this morning!  

Michi, interested to hear you have been on the Hairy Hands route. The odd thing about that is that it appears to have started as a legend as late as the early 1900's. Reports were mainly made of the hairy hands taking control of the steering of cars and motorcycles with a view to crashing the vehicle but it has happened to bicycles and the odd horse and cart. Several fatalities have occurred there. I wonder whether being in the vicinity of the old Powder Mills has anything to do with it?

Malamute, well worth a visit next year. Let me know what happened if you try the running around the tomb seven times! Although not normally open to the public, there are a series of caves below the church stretching for about 3,500 metres. Directly below Cabell's tomb a stalactite and a stalagmite have joined to create a rather scary 'Little Man', as it is known.  

[Michi]

Malamute, well worth a visit next year. Let me know what happened if you try the running around the tomb seven times!

Don´t forget to circle the ruined church anti-clockwise. Folklore has that the devil will be waiting for you at the backdoor...  

BTW: Did you know that the citizen of Buckfastleigh refused to have the iron fence of Cabells grave being removed and collected for wartime recycling of iron and steel? 

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Did you know that the citizen of Buckfastleigh refused to have the iron fence of Cabells grave being removed and collected for wartime recycling of iron and steel?

I didn't know that, that's very interesting. It seems a very sensible precaution though, otherwise Squire Cabell may have been roaming the moor for the last 75 years!!  

I take it on your visit to Buckfast Abbey, you purchased a bottle of the ubiquitous tonic wine?