A book of the west. Volume 1, Devon : $b being an introduction to Devon and CornwallBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
A book of the west. Volume 1, Devon : $b being an introduction to Devon and Cornwall
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Devon (England)
Immediately opposite Dartmouth is Kingswear, situated on the
steep slope of rock that runs precipitously to the sea. There is
a curious circumstance connected with the church. In 1845, the
church was pulled down, when under the foundation was discovered
a cavity cut in the rock filled with infant bones and quicklime.
There is but too much reason to believe that we have here one of
the many instances that remain of the old heathen belief that no
building would stand unless a man or child were buried under the
foundation. A few years ago, when the parish church of Wickersley,
Lincolnshire, was rebuilt by Sir G. Gilbert Scott, on raising the
foundations the complete skeleton of a man was found laid lengthwise
under the masonry. At Holsworthy, North Devon, in the same way, a
skeleton was discovered with much lime about it in the wall, as if
to hasten decomposition. The custom still exists in the East. In
1860, the King of Burmah (father of Theebaw) rebuilt Mandalay. On
that occasion fifty-three individuals were buried alive, three under
each of the twelve gates, one under each of the palace gates, and
four under the throne itself. In 1880 the virtue was supposed to
have evaporated, and Theebaw proposed to repeat the ceremony with
one hundred victims, but I believe the actual number sacrificed was
about twenty-five. The Burmans believe that the nals or spirits of
the persons buried guard the gates and attack persons approaching
with hostile intentions. Precisely similar convictions were common
all over Europe.
In S. Saviour's, Dartmouth, in the chancel, is buried the skull of
Sir Charles McCarthy, who was for a while Governor of Sierra Leone,
and was killed at Accra, in an encounter with the Ashantees, January
21st, 1824; the skull was greatly prized by the Ashantees, who had
possessed themselves of it, and with it they decorated the war-drum
of the king. The skull was happily recovered in 1829, and was
brought to Dartmouth, where it was buried with some ceremony.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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