The Mad Monk of Gidleigh

Final Note

I should now confess that the whole of this story is based on the poor man who came to be known as ‘The Mad Monk’: Robert de Middelcote, who lived and served in the chapel not far from Gidleigh. Like Mark, he too had a girlfriend, he too had her conceive, and he too ran from the area. His crime was that he punched his woman in the belly and killed their child in her womb on 28 March 1328.

His tale then diverged from Mark’s, because he escaped all the way to the outskirts of Exeter, to Haldon Hill, where he was captured.

The records show that he was hauled off to the Bishop’s court, but sadly the result of the action has been lost.

We do know what happened to his chapel, though. It was demolished, the stones taken away, and a new chapel built nearer Gidleigh. This new one was consecrated in 1332.

We cannot be certain where the old chapel was, so I have made a guess for the purposes of this book. Some people do reckon to be able to point to the old one. If you want to find it, I suggest you try walking over the land from Gidleigh towards Moortown. It should be along that old footpath somewhere.

But I warn you, when I mention that Mark is disgusted by all the mud, I am not joking. This is about the wettest footpath on the eastern section of the moor!

Michael Jecks