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
02 October 2010, 04:22:50 AM