Ghost · Alconbury Weston · Legendary
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Seven pounds in gold, a lonely road, and a drum that won't stop.
Stand where it happened
The gibbet is long gone and the spot by the old Great North Road (now the A1) is not marked; the lanes around Alconbury Weston are public roads. Do not stop on the A1.
Near Alconbury, listen closely. A murdered drummer boy is said to follow travellers here, tapping out a beat behind them.
In August 1780 a soldier, Gervase Matcham, escorted fifteen-year-old drummer boy Benjamin Jones to Diddington Hall to collect about seven pounds of regimental money. On the way back near Alconbury he cut the boy's throat and fled to sea. Years later, crossing Salisbury Plain, Matcham believed he saw ghostly visions, including the boy, and confessed. He was hanged in 1786 and gibbeted in chains near the murder spot beside the Great North Road. The story inspired 'The Dead Drummer' in the Ingoldsby Legends, and people still say footsteps and drumming follow travellers between Alconbury and Alconbury Weston after dark.