'The demon death dog'
This true eerie story was an inspiration for the film the ‘Hound of the Baskervilles (Sherlock Holmes) and this haunted house can send chills down anybody's spine. Hergest court is an old stone and timbered farmhouse on a country lane in the village of Kington which is a short drive outside of Hereford, the estate remarkably goes back over seven hundred years and the original manor house hergest Court dates from around 1267 the builder of the house was Hwel Ap Meurig. When Thomas Vaughn and his son Watkin owned the house they made many changes, a deer park which was relatively small was made around this time. Over time it was occupied by the Clanvow and Vaughan families and in the early 18th century most part of Hergest Court was turned over to agriculture, most of the woodlands survived this.
The house was bought in 1912 by W. H Banks. There is also a red leather book, named red book of Hergest. The book is believed to have been written between 1375 and 1425 and inside the book there is a mixture of poetry and prose, the origins of the book is unknown, however the earliest known owner was a man called Hopcyn, after his death he lost all of his possessions to the Vaughn family in 1461. The manuscript then entered the library of Robert Vaughn and then it was passed to son Thomas, some how the manuscript which is named after its former home was presented to Jesus College, Oxford by the Reverend Thomas Wilkins of Llanbleddian in 1701.
The main story of Hergest goes that some time Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stayed at Hergest Court with the Vaughan family and that after his stay he used the story of Hergest for the film ‘Hound of the Baskervilles. The Baskerville family had a castle in Eardisley which is located just up the road from hergest and records also show that Arthur Doyle was related to the Baskerville and the Vaughan family by marriage. There are many stories that go around Herefordshire of black dogs, there is a corner on the Ledbury Road at Stoke Edith named the ‘ Black Dog Corner ‘ because it is said that a black dog rushes from the gatehouse, a mysterious black dog is also sighted on the odd occasion on Belmont Road, however the most famous and perhaps feared black dog story is the one associated with Hergest court, the story goes that there was a black dog that belonged to a man named Black Vaughn who was a Lord living around five centuries ago at Hergest Croft in Kington, Black was beheaded in 1469 after the battle of Banbury and his loyal black dog went off with his head, this dog can apparently be heard growling and barking in the top room of the house and legend has it that if the demon hound is seen it is said to bring death to the family, this evil dog is believed to still haunt the area.
Local people around kington take the story of Black Vaughan and his dog much more seriously than just a legend and many refuse to walk near Hergest Court at night or for some even day, some locals won’t even risk driving past in fear that they might witness something supernatural, previous tenants of Hergest court have also seen the black dog in the house and hearing the patter of dog paws. The head of Black Vaughn as been seen many times hovering above the moat and Black Vaughn and his dog have been sighted walking together in the direction of the church. When Black Vaughn died he was buried in a tomb with his wife at Kington’s local church, after Black’s death an evil spirit was terrorising the area around the church, this spirit was scaring the locals as farm carts were turned over, gates were slamming shut and this evil spirit was haunting the church, it is also said that Black apparently appeared in the market place after his death as a black bull, he totally devastated Kington church and so drastic action had to be done to stop this evil spirit from creating more terror and so a plan was put together to exorcise the spirit by twelve priests and then put it in a silver snuff box, and so the plan seemed simple so one autumn night the twelve priests went to the local church with a wise man who was from over the mountains, many local villagers who were brave enough to go and a young mother with a new born baby.
It was a dark, cold evening and every priest had one candle and so they waited and waited for the evil ghost of Vaughn to make an appearance, every candle was soon blown out evidently by the spirit of Black Vaughan, the twelve priests soon dropped to their knees and thay all stopped reading from the bible, they were scared and all of them ran off home in terror, however the brave wise man continued, he didn’t need a candle as he by heart said passages from the bible, this man didn’t give up and so eventually the evil spirit of Vaughn was in the snuff box, the box was then buried for one thousand years at the bottom of Hergest pool with a big stone placed on top, this box is apparently still there to this present day but a thousand years won't last forever, one day the time will run out and the spirit of Black Vaughn will be free again.
Will he cause so much disrupt next time round?
The below picture is Black Vaughn.
