ghosts of norfolk

Drumbeats of the Past: Uncle Gerald’s Fateful Meeting with the Hickling Drummer Boy

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(Phantom Drummer. Image Source: Bing Image Creator)

My step-uncle Gerald lived in the village of Hickling, nestled in the heart of the Norfolk Broadlands. He was one of the few remaining reed cutters, a job with a long, proud tradition in the area but sadly dying out as fewer people needed thatch for their homes.

(Gerald Nudd 1940-1999. Artist unknown. Image Source: ©E.Holohan)

It was back in the mid-1990s that my step-uncle spent his day on Hickling Broad, the local body of water, slicing through reeds as the sun dipped below the horizon. One evening, the air grew cold and he witnessed a spectral figure gliding across the Broad.

(Hicking Broad, Norfolk. Image Source: John Fielding)

Now, being Hickling born and bred and from a family whose ancestry here stretched back as far as the Norse settlers, Gerald realised in horror that he was witnessing a local legend recreating its ethereal journey across the Broad.

Local folklore has it that during the winter of 1815, shortly before the battle of Waterloo, a local drummer boy from Potter Heigham returned home on leave. While back he fell passionately in love with a local girl from a wealthy and influential family. The girl’s father, knowing the drummer boy was poor, refused to allow the relationship and any thought of marriage.

Undeterred by this, the star-crossed lovers continued to meet in secret every night in a little hut at Swim Coots on the edge of Hickling Broad. When the winter turned icy and the Broad froze over, the drummer boy skated over the ice, wearing his bright yellow scarlet trimmed coat, and would beat his kettle drum to signal his approach.

(The view from Swim Coots Mill. Image Source: Bart Horeman cc-by-sa/2.0)

One frozen February evening the girl waited at Swim Coots as usual and listened out for the drum beat of her paramour. But this time the drum beat suddenly stopped and there was an eerie silence. The ice had cracked and the drummer boy had plunged through and drowned in the freezing waters of the Broad.

It is said that the girl rushed to the edge of the frozen Broad to find her lover and was relieved to see the shivering boy skating towards her. As she held out her hands to help him ashore, she felt his icy touch and the drummer boy disappeared.

The unfortunate drummer boy was not found for several days when a lifeless body was pulled from the Broad clad in a yellow coat with scarlet trim.

(Hickling Broad with Swim Coots marked. Image Source: Google Maps 2023)

Since then, it is said that on some cold winter nights in February, the eerie sound of a rhythmic drum tattoo and the swishing of skates can be heard, as the ghostly drummer boy tries to keep his date with his sweetheart.

After observing in shock the gliding figure, Gerald quickly downed his tools and fled back to the village where he decided to visit the Greyhound Inn for a stiff, nerve-settling drink. As Gerald recounted the haunting sight of the ghostly drummer boy to the sceptical pub patrons, the line between reality and spirits blurred. Was it the ethereal presence of the supernatural he witnessed, or a distorted vision fuelled by the spirits from his glass?

The locals in the pub dismissed his tale, attributing it to his well-known predilection for whisky. However, Gerald couldn’t shake the chilling memory, leaving him wondering if the haunting beats of the drummer boy would forever echo in his consciousness or fade away like the dissipating spirits in his empty whisky glass.

References

Ghosts of the Airfields

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Airfields are often believed to be haunted perhaps because of the volume of tragedy and activity that passed through them during the wars. In East Anglia, where there was a saturation of airbases, these haunted sites include RAF West Raynham, RAF Bircham Newton in Norfolk and RAF Tibenham in Norfolk among others.

RAF Bircham Newton has reports of an apparition of a man in RAF uniform haunting the squash court and ghostly footsteps have been heard. EVPs have recorded the sounds of an active airfield, such as voices, engines and the clank of machinery. The sounds of a phantom aircraft flying overhead has also been heard.

RAF Bircham Newton today

RAF West Raynham, which was recently used as a location for a Most Haunted Live week-long special, is believed to be haunted by several ghosts. There are reported sightings of a Polish pilot, who was shot down during WW2,  haunting the officer’s mess, the apparition of a suicidal mechanic hanging from the rafters of the armoury, and a particularly angry and bitter ghost of a high-ranking airman has been experienced in the chapel. The control tower here has also had reports of poltergeist activity and the Station Medical Centre has reports of the eerie sounds of otherworldly sobbing and screams.

The control tower at RAF Tibenham was used until 1975 as a club house by the Gliding Club and it was reported that a person in flying uniform, similar to those worn by the USAAF combat crews, had been seen on several occasions wandering through the rooms of the tower.

Local to me while growing up was Ludham old airfield which was known to locals to be haunted. It is said that on a certain moonlit nights a large airplane can be heard and seen landing on what was once the runway before bursting into flames.

Reports of haunted airfields are not restricted to East Anglia with reports abounding in the rest of Britain.It seems that the brave martys of WW1 and WW2 still linger,  in the airbases and airfields where they once lived and worked to protect their country.