On my recent visit to family in England, we took a wonderful day trip to visit 'Greenaway House', the home of Agatha Christie in Kingswear, Devon. Kingswear is on the River Dart at the Dartmouth area on the southern coast of Devon. I'll certainly post about this non-Sherlockian visit at some point.
Happily, on the return trip (to Somerset where my aunt lives) we visited Buckfastleigh on the edge of Dartmoor. There were two reasons for doing so. The first is that my family heritage has a line tracking to Buckfastleigh (the BORDER family, see for example thehistoryofmatt.blogspot.com/2009/06/james-border-and-sophia-mason-updated.html), but the second and more alluring reason for me is that Buckfastleigh churchyard contains the sepulchre of Richard Cabell, a putative inspiration for the Hound of the Baskervilles! Of course, I'm thrilled at this intersection of my genealogy and Sherlockiana. My ancestor may have been pursued mercilessly across the moor by a CABELL!
Well actually, the sepulchre is believed to house THREE successive generations of Richard Cabell, all in one spot. Incredible amounts have been written about the inspiration for the BEST SHERLOCK HOLMES STORY EVER (not a debate), and this blog post will not attempt to re-evaluate the stories that Fletcher shared with ACD, ACD's visit to the moor, and whether the legends surrounding the Cabell stories are modern inventions or ancient superstition.
And so, below are some photos of the church, cemetery and sepulchre. Below that are some readings that are available and worth sourcing that provide background reading on HOUN, Devon's moor, Buckfastleigh, and the legends of beasts.
Thankfully, I visited the churchyard during the daytime when the powers of evil are NOT exalted.
The entrance gate to Holy Trinity Church, Buckfastleigh. Beyond the gates are an extensive churchyard with many headstones, and church itself. And the sepulchre. Unlike many villages, the church is not near the center of the village of Buckfastleigh, but at the top of a nearby incline away from the village. It is accessed by steps from the village, or by quite a circuitous drive in the modern era.
Two views of the sepulchre itself, in the churchyard. There are solid walls on three sides (with one door), and an iron grille across 'the front', and a square pyramidal roof on top. The sepulchre is hundreds of years old, but appears in excellent condition compared with photos from the 1970s, consistent with being restored at some point (see below).
The view through the grille into the sepulchre. A tomb in excellent condition can be seen with a slab top, with whitewashed walls and tombsides. Curiously, a modern placard with information has been placed atop it, and out of view is a noticeboard with information about nature preservation!. Why the sepulchre is used for placing notices will be evident below.
The placard states: "This tomb was built in 1656 by the third Richard Cabell, Lord of the Manor of Buckfastleigh, for his grandfather (died 1613) and father (died 1655). All three Richard Cabells are commemorated on the slab on top of the tomb. In the course of time many legends grew up on an evil man who sold his soul to the devil. These legends may be based partly on the third Richard Cabell, but there is little foundation for most of the stories. However these tales were promoted both by local legend, (e.g. that the iron grille was to ensure Cabell's spirit could not escape), and by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, (particularly stories of foul deeds and terrible black dogs), in researching for his novel, 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'."
Two views of the Holy Trinity Church. It is not an ancient ruin, but instead it was sadly burnt down in 1992, by arson. The tower is intact, the remainder is posted as dangerous (though I briefly entered the church to take these photos. The placard in the sepulchre provides a brief history: "There was a church on this site in Saxon times, but the building behind you dates from the 13th century, and was the parish church of Buckfastleigh for the next 700 years, with the name of Holy Trinity Church. In 1992 the church was burnt out by arson, leaving the ruin you now see. The decision was made not to rebuild Holy Trinity, but rather to build a new church in the centre of Buckfastleigh on the site of St Luke's Church, a Victorian chapel-of-ease."
As for books that discuss the Cabells, the sepulchre, and the legends as they relate to HOUN, I recommend the following, all of which I can see multiple copies available through resellers. There's nothing as cruel as recommending books people can't access!
The first book deserves a photo. It is the least Sherlockian publication listed here, but an excellent booklet. "The Story of the Sepulchre - The Canells of Buckfastleigh and the Conan Doyle connection" was published by Susan Cabell Djabri in 1990 (though the publication date is not shown). It is a booklet describing the documentary evidence for the Cabells of Buckfastleigh, evaluates their character based on documents such as wills, and also explores subsequent generations of connected family that may be responsible for the 'bad reputation'. Sales of the booklet went towards a fund to restore the sepulchre.Other publications on the topic that I've enjoyed:
- Hound and Horse, A Dartmoor Commonplace Book (The Handbook of the Dartmoor Expedition of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London), Edited by Shirley Purves, Sherlock Holmes Society of London, 1992. Contains many articles on HOUN and the Dartmoor area, and the Cabells.
- Holmes and Watson Country (2nd Edition, Complete in One Volume), Bernard Davies, Sherlock Holmes Society of London, 2001. Contains several chapters on HOUN, and information about the true locations of sites in the story such as Baskerville Hall.
- The Curious Incident of the Hound on Dartmoor, Janice McNabb, The Bootmakers of Toronto, 1984. A discussion of the emergence of the legends around the Cabell family, and a discussion of the chicken-egg problem - did Fletcher Robinson and ACD ultimately give rise to the legends around the Cabell family?
- The Hound of the Baskervilles, Hunting the Dartmoor Legend, Philip Weller, Devon, 2001. An absolute tour de force covering every aspect of the HOUN story, ACDs sources and inspirations, the Dartmoor setting, and color photographs of the Cabell sepulchre. Cannot recommend this book enough. Includes the HOUN story itself.
Finally, the Cabell family lived at Brook Manor outside the village of Buckfastleigh. It is a private home (and I couldn't access it), but these two sites give some information and amazingly detailed photos of a stone spiral staircase installed there as part of recent renovations:
https://qualifiedstonemason.com/portfolio/new-build/brook-manor-2/
https://gazetteer.sherlock-holmes.org.uk/places/brook-manor-house/
No comments:
Post a Comment