Ghost
The Lost Drummer Boy
The drum fell silent underground.
Stand where it happened
- What's there
- A Norman keep above the Swale and a stone in a field
- Legend from
- Richmond tradition
- Best time
- Any
- Tone
- Haunting
The drumbeat went under the market place, along the river, and then simply stopped.
Legend says that, possibly at the end of the 18th century, soldiers found a small tunnel under the keep of Richmond Castle. They lowered a drummer boy into it and told him to beat his drum as he went, so they could follow above ground. The drumming led them across the Market Place, along Frenchgate and beside the River Swale towards Easby Abbey. In the woods, half a mile from the abbey, the drumming stopped and the boy was never seen again. A Drummer Boy Stone marks the spot. One tale says he found King Arthur's sleeping knights and stayed with them. English Heritage tells where Arthur sleeps.