DRAKE'S DRUM SAVED

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22318, 4 February 1938, Page 10

DRAKE'S DRUM SAVED

I DISASTROUS FIRE IN FORMER HOME LEGEND OF WARNING BEAT (From Our Own Correspondent) LONDON, January 7. Sir Francis Drake's historic drum, immortalised by Sir Henry Newbolt's poem, was saved from a disastrous fire which gutted the west wing of Buckland Abbey, the Elizabethan seaman's own home at Yelverton, Devon. The drum formerly hung in the hall, which was the monks' church in the original abbey. It was one of the first objects to be removed to a place of safety when the fire was discovered, and thus survives to fulfil the traditional duty of the legend—to sound a muffled roll of warning whenever England is in danger.

Sailors tell the story that when the German Grand Fleet surrendered after the war the great ships steamed silently between the rows of British Suddenly a muffled drumming was heard running along the British line. It was, they say, Drake's drum. Portrait and Sword Other relics of Sir Francis Drake, including his portrait by Janssens, a ceremonial sword which he wore as Mayor of Plymouth, and chests of old documents recording the history of tne mansion since Elizabethan times, were among the relics saved. Many other heirlooms were salvaged, but several valuable paintings and a quantity of priceless china were destroyed when part of the roof fell in. Fire brigades and police from Yelverton, Tavistock, and Plymouth were called, and after the west wing had been destroyed and the tower extensively damaged, they succeeded in checking the flames. Historic Abbey Formerly the country seat of Lord and Lady Seaton, the abbey is now owned by Captain R. O. Merrick. He was not preserit at the time ot the fire, bilt his wife and two sons, who had taken up residence there only the

previous night, helped in saving property from the burning wing. Mrs Merrick narrowly' escaped being struck by slates sliding from the roof. The abbey of SS. Mary and Benedict was founded on the bank of the Tavy in 1278 by Amicia, widow of Baldwin de Redvers, the seventh Earl of Devon, for the monks of the Cistercian Order and colonised from the Isle of Wight. The abbey was surrendered by John Toker or Tucker, the last abbot, the revenues at the dissolution being £241 17s 9d. There were then 12 monks, besides the abbot. Sir Richard Grenville converted the abbey church into a mansion in 1575, and sold it to Sir Francis Drake in 1580. Buckland Abbey incorporates piers and arches which once supported the central tower of the church.