Would Drake, or his ghost, vote UKIP ?

Buckland Abbey, Devon

In 1581 Sir Francis Drake bought Buckland Abbey in Devon. Local legend has it that his ambitious re-building programme was accomplished  in a matter of a few days, thus he must have made a pact with the devil!

Indeed, if you are travelling over the far reaches of Dartmoor during particularly bleak and windy winter nights, you might well see a shadowy black coach being driven by horses at breakneck speed. And if this isn’t bad enough, if you can get close you will see that the horses have no heads and there is a pack of wild, ghostly hounds howling alongside. The whole entourage is rumoured to be pursuing the business of the Devil, and is driven by Drake as retribution for his sins. And the sounds of the hounds can be heard several miles away, although some say it is just the keening of the wind, moaning over the desolate wilderness.

Drake's Drum, Buckland Abbey 

But, inside the peace and tranquillity of the Abbey is Drake’s Drum which was returned to England in 1596, this being one of his last wishes as he lay dying in Central America. He promised that if ever England was in peril he would hear the Drum being beaten and his spirit would return to help. Sir Henry Newbolt summed it up very succinctly in his poem Drake’s Drum ...

                             

Take my drum to England, hang it by the shore,
Strike it when your powder’s runnin’ low;
 If the Dons sight Devon, I’ll quit the port o’ Heaven,
An’ drum them up the Channel as we drumm’d them long ago.

In recent history this drum has been heard several times, especially before the battle of Trafalgar, and in 1939 before the start of hostilities.

Finally, one wonders if Drake has become a thoroughly modern ghost and his spirit is inspiring UKIP by more subtle means as the drum has not been heard recently!!

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