Richard Cabell

Richard Cabell (died 5 July 1677), of Brook Hall, in the parish of Buckfastleigh on the south-eastern edge of Dartmoor, in Devon,[1] is believed to be the inspiration for the wicked Hugo Baskerville, "the first of his family to be hounded to death when he hunted an innocent maiden over the moor by night",[2] one of the central characters in Conan Doyle's novel The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901-2),[3] the tale of a hellish hound and a cursed country squire.

[1] Squire Richard Cabell (known to posterity as "Dirty Dick"[2]) lived for hunting and was what in those days was described as a 'monstrously evil man'.

The night of his interment saw a phantom pack of hounds come baying across the moor to howl at his tomb.

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 over the top.

It is a grade II* listed building with pyramidal slate roof and three windowless walls, with the fourth closed by an iron railing providing a view of the chest tomb within.