Richard Cabell facts for kids
Richard Cabell (died 5 July 1677) lived at Brook Hall in Buckfastleigh, Devon. Many people believe he was the inspiration for the character Hugo Baskerville in Conan Doyle's famous book, The Hound of the Baskervilles. This story is about a scary, ghostly dog and a family curse. Conan Doyle himself said in 1907 that his story came from a friend who mentioned a legend about a dog on the moor connected to an old family. Richard Cabell's tomb can still be seen in Buckfastleigh today.
Who Was Richard Cabell?
Richard Cabell was the son of Richard Cabell and Mary Prestwood. His family lived in Buckfastleigh.
People knew Squire Richard Cabell as "Dirty Dick" because he had a very bad reputation. He loved hunting, but people told stories that he was unkind and had done many wrong things. There were even whispers that he had caused his wife, Elizabeth Fowell, to die. However, his will from 1671 shows she was still alive then.
Richard Cabell died on 5 July 1677. The night he was buried, a strange thing happened. People said a ghostly pack of hounds came howling across Dartmoor to his tomb. From that night on, the legend says Richard Cabell could be seen leading these phantom hounds across the moor, especially on the anniversary of his death. If they weren't hunting, the ghostly dogs would howl and shriek around his grave. To try and stop his spirit from haunting the area, the villagers built a large stone building around his tomb. They also placed a huge stone slab on top to keep him from coming out.
The Cabell Mausoleum
The Cabell family's burial place is called a mausoleum, but locals call it "The Sepulchre." It's a special building that holds the tombs of different Cabell family members. It has a pyramid-shaped slate roof and three solid walls. The fourth side has iron railings, so you can see the stone tomb inside.
In a guide to Devonshire written in 1907, Sabine Baring-Gould described the mausoleum. He wrote that it was built to keep Richard Cabell from haunting the area because he had such a bad reputation. When he died, stories said that evil spirits and black dogs breathing fire raced over Dartmoor and surrounded his home, howling loudly.
This mausoleum is very important because it's one of the first two stand-alone mausoleums ever built in England. The names on the tomb inside are Richard Cabell (died 1612), his wife Susanna (died 1597), and their son Richard (died 1655). The Richard Cabell from this article is also believed to be buried there. Many legends about Richard Cabell's ghost are connected to this unique building.
