Devil
Cymbeline's Castle
Seven laps of the mound, and the Devil comes calling.
Stand where it happened
- What's there
- Wooded medieval motte and baileys below Beacon Hill
- Legend from
- Name probably 19th century
- Tone
- Curious
That wooded mound below Beacon Hill is called Cymbeline's Castle. They say if you run round it seven times, the Devil comes out to meet you.
On a wooded spur below Beacon Hill, near Ellesborough church, is a steep Norman motte with two small baileys. It is known as Cymbeline's Castle or Cymbeline's Mount, after Cunobeline, the powerful British king of the early first century who appears in Shakespeare's Cymbeline. Nothing links him to the earthwork, which is a medieval castle mound. The Bucks HER suggests the name was romantically drawn from the nearby Kimble place-names, and Wikipedia calls it possibly a Victorian invention. One more tradition clings to the mound: run around it seven times, it is said, and the Devil will appear.
One sourceOnly one written account of this legend has been found so far.