The Hound of The Baskervilles
Mystery of abandoned burnt-out church where Satanic rituals took place
One of Devon's most historic churches was razed to the ground - but were Satanists behind the arson attack?
"Mr Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!”
The church graveyard was was the burial place of sinister squire Richard Capel – or Cabell – whose monstrous behaviour inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, to write The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Cabell was alleged to have got away with the murder of his wife in the 1600s after making a pact with the devil for his soul. The people of Buckfastleigh feared him and his pack of vicious hunting dogs when he was alive. His death, on July 5, 1677, did not halt their fear and legend had it that on the night of his internment a “phantom pack of hounds” came baying across the moor to howl at his tomb.
From that moment hence, legend had it that each year on the anniversary of his death he could be found leading this phantom pack across the moor and if they weren’t out hunting, the pack could be found ranging around his grave, howling and shrieking.
Conan Doyle, who had worked as a doctor in Durnford Street, Plymouth, incorporated the legend into his famous book, which told of a diabolical hound of supernatural origin who killed Sir Hugo Baskerville after he abducted and murdered a woman in the mires of Dartmoor. The family was then cursed for evermore.
The tomb of Cabell remains and his coffin was secured beneath a heavy stone, over which a solid alter tomb was placed and then enclosed behind sturdy iron bars – ostensibly to prevent the escape of his mortal – and incorporeal – form.
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The Haunted WW2 Sea Fort
Grain Fort was constructed in the 1860s to defend the mouth of the River Medway and Thames against the threat of French naval attack. It was designed to support both Grain Tower out at sea, built from 1848-55, and Garrison Point Fort at Sheerness. It was altered and upgraded during proceeding conflicts, including the First and Second World Wars, until it was decommissioned in 1956. After this, it was mostly demolished although remnants of the front of the fort can be seen today including its filled-in gun pits along the terreplein (upper surface) amongst a shrubbed coastal park and World War Two spigot mortar bases for use by the Home Guard. Underground, more substantial sections of the fort survive as two sets of subterranean tunnels, including the main magazine, caponiers, and an ammunition lift.
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The Haunted WW2 Sea Fort
Grain Fort was constructed in the 1860s to defend the mouth of the River Medway and Thames against the threat of French naval attack. It was designed to support both Grain Tower out at sea, built from 1848-55, and Garrison Point Fort at Sheerness. It was altered and upgraded during proceeding conflicts, including the First and Second World Wars, until it was decommissioned in 1956. After this, it was mostly demolished although remnants of the front of the fort can be seen today including its filled-in gun pits along the terreplein (upper surface) amongst a shrubbed coastal park and World War Two spigot mortar bases for use by the Home Guard. Underground, more substantial sections of the fort survive as two sets of subterranean tunnels, including the main magazine, caponiers, and an ammunition lift.
3
views
The Haunted WW2 Sea Fort
Grain Fort was constructed in the 1860s to defend the mouth of the River Medway and Thames against the threat of French naval attack. It was designed to support both Grain Tower out at sea, built from 1848-55, and Garrison Point Fort at Sheerness. It was altered and upgraded during proceeding conflicts, including the First and Second World Wars, until it was decommissioned in 1956. After this, it was mostly demolished although remnants of the front of the fort can be seen today including its filled-in gun pits along the terreplein (upper surface) amongst a shrubbed coastal park and World War Two spigot mortar bases for use by the Home Guard. Underground, more substantial sections of the fort survive as two sets of subterranean tunnels, including the main magazine, caponiers, and an ammunition lift.
1
view
The Haunted WW2 Sea Fort
Grain Fort was constructed in the 1860s to defend the mouth of the River Medway and Thames against the threat of French naval attack. It was designed to support both Grain Tower out at sea, built from 1848-55, and Garrison Point Fort at Sheerness. It was altered and upgraded during proceeding conflicts, including the First and Second World Wars, until it was decommissioned in 1956. After this, it was mostly demolished although remnants of the front of the fort can be seen today including its filled-in gun pits along the terreplein (upper surface) amongst a shrubbed coastal park and World War Two spigot mortar bases for use by the Home Guard. Underground, more substantial sections of the fort survive as two sets of subterranean tunnels, including the main magazine, caponiers, and an ammunition lift.
4
views
The Haunted WW2 Sea Fort
Grain Fort was constructed in the 1860s to defend the mouth of the River Medway and Thames against the threat of French naval attack. It was designed to support both Grain Tower out at sea, built from 1848-55, and Garrison Point Fort at Sheerness. It was altered and upgraded during proceeding conflicts, including the First and Second World Wars, until it was decommissioned in 1956. After this, it was mostly demolished although remnants of the front of the fort can be seen today including its filled-in gun pits along the terreplein (upper surface) amongst a shrubbed coastal park and World War Two spigot mortar bases for use by the Home Guard. Underground, more substantial sections of the fort survive as two sets of subterranean tunnels, including the main magazine, caponiers, and an ammunition lift.
3
views
The Haunted WW2 Sea Fort
Grain Fort was constructed in the 1860s to defend the mouth of the River Medway and Thames against the threat of French naval attack. It was designed to support both Grain Tower out at sea, built from 1848-55, and Garrison Point Fort at Sheerness. It was altered and upgraded during proceeding conflicts, including the First and Second World Wars, until it was decommissioned in 1956. After this, it was mostly demolished although remnants of the front of the fort can be seen today including its filled-in gun pits along the terreplein (upper surface) amongst a shrubbed coastal park and World War Two spigot mortar bases for use by the Home Guard. Underground, more substantial sections of the fort survive as two sets of subterranean tunnels, including the main magazine, caponiers, and an ammunition lift.
4
views
The Haunted WW2 Sea Fort
Grain Fort was constructed in the 1860s to defend the mouth of the River Medway and Thames against the threat of French naval attack. It was designed to support both Grain Tower out at sea, built from 1848-55, and Garrison Point Fort at Sheerness. It was altered and upgraded during proceeding conflicts, including the First and Second World Wars, until it was decommissioned in 1956. After this, it was mostly demolished although remnants of the front of the fort can be seen today including its filled-in gun pits along the terreplein (upper surface) amongst a shrubbed coastal park and World War Two spigot mortar bases for use by the Home Guard. Underground, more substantial sections of the fort survive as two sets of subterranean tunnels, including the main magazine, caponiers, and an ammunition lift.
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