Richard CABELL

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  General Notes:

"Richard Cabell of manor of Brooke in the Parish of Buckfastleigh in the County of Devon, Esquire, eldest son and heir of Richard Cabell of Frome-Selwood in the County of Somerset, Esquire, was born at ---; died at ---, . February 17th, 1612 [O. S.], and was buried in the sepulchre of his family in the churchyard of Buckfastleigh on March 4th, 1612 [O. S.]. He married prior to 1581, Su­sannah, daughter of John Peter of --- in the Parish of Buckfastleigh aforesaid Esquire. She was born at ---; died at Buckfastleigh August 7th, 1597, and was buried in the Cabell sepulchre there. She was related to the very cele­brated Sir William Peter (or Petre), Secretary of State under Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth. A man of wonderful tact. Under Henry "he observed his humour;" in Edward's time "kept the law;" in Mary's "in­tended wholly State affairs;" and in Elizabeth's was "re­ligious."' As one of 'the visitors' he acquired, and had wit enough to keep, a great deal of wealth in the dissolution of the religious houses."

Westcote, in his history of Devonshire, written about 1630-1640, says: "Buckfast, Buckfaster, or Buckfastleigh, where Duke Alford erected a fair Abbey of White Monks of the Cistercian Order, dedicating it to the Blessed Vir­gin: valued at the surrender at £466 11s 2½d, where now is to be seen the skeleton of a huge body, where the be­holder may both pity and wonder to see the ruins thereof. Now [1630-40] the possession of Cabell."

Worth, in his history of Devonshire (1886), says: "The Abbey of Buckfast, Buckfastleigh, or, as in 'Domesday,' Buckfestre, is a foundation of great age, one of the very few religious houses in Devon which had existence before the Conquest. The early history of Buckfast is lost in re­mote antiquity; but the monks claimed, in the reign of Ed­ward I, to hold the manor of Zele Monachorum by the gift of Cnut; and 'Domesday' shows the Abbey a flourishing in­stitution with considerable possessions. . . . Originally, so far as can be ascertained, Benedictine, Buckfast, became a daughter-house of Savigny, united to the Cistercian Order in 1148. . . . The last abbot was Gabriel Doune or Downe, who was appointed in 1535, and surrendered in February 1538. He was probably 'the author of the plan which re­sulted in the capture, imprisonment, and death of Tyn­dale;' and Mr. J. Brooking Rowe thinks that he was foisted upon the monks of Buckfast better to carry out the designs of the King. . . . The remains of the Abbey, with the mod­ern house built upon the site and in part with its materials, are now (1886) once more the home of monks of the Bene­dictine order, who are successfully engaged in its recon­struction upon the ancient lines."

Mr. Worth says that the Abbey and the adjacent lands were at one time "the property of Sir Richard Baker, the historian." But should this not be Sir Richard Baker, the uncle of the historian, and one of the executors of Sir Wil­liam Peter?

Richard Cabell and Susannah Peter, his wife, had two sons, Richard (of whom hereafter) and Samuel, and three daughters.

Richard married Susannah PETERS. (Susannah PETERS was born before 1559, died on 17 Aug 1597 and was buried in Buckfastleigh, Devonshire, England, United Kingdom, "Cabell Plot".)