For such a tiny town, Dronfield has its own share of legends and ghosts, mainly revolving around one whom frequents several of the establishments reputedly.

The Legend Of The White Lady Of Bowshaw

A rambling Georgian farmhouse in the Bowshaw area of Dronfield, was built in the early 1700’s by the locally influential Lucas family, a family synonymous with the iron and steel business in the area. Bowshaw House is situated on the outskirts of Dronfield town centre and in common with many properties of such an age, it has been updated and altered over centuries, not least of all in the 1940s when a family feud split the property in two.

Owned than by the Hatfield family it was inherited by two brothers who couldn’t decide how to divide the house and land between them. Until this point, the house had been a very large U shaped building with a grand portico entrance and so the only solution seems to been splitting the house into two separate parts, which became known as though Bowshaw House and Bowshaw Farm, respectively. A wall was constructed and the farm continued as a working farm with a separate entrance and several acres more land. The house and farm have passed through many hands throughout the history and there are rumours of underground tunnels, which ran from the cellar of the house to Dronfield Parish Church about half a mile away.

The Green Dragon pub opposite the church also boasts rumours of a similar underground passage and when a local newspaper came across a scrap of archaic local history, it noted that whoever lived at Bowshaw house had the right to a pew in Dronfield church.

The current owners of the house, the Rowlinsons decided to decorate the cellar as a play room for their children and found a large proportion of it had been blocked off and bricked up by other previous residents. Curious of the legend of the tunnels, they decided against opening up any of the plastered areas and opted instead relay the cellar floor to install radiators and lights.

It had never been damp, but as soon as the alterations focused on the floor, the atmosphere changed and one particular flagstone collected a permanent puddle underneath of which the source of water has never been traced. The room was never used as the current owners were convinced the atmosphere changed and that very upset ‘somebody.’

The white lady in her long, flowing dress hasn’t been seen in many years but she walks a very old route it has been reported, from the entrance into the hallway of the house, an original part of the house dating from the 1730. Hauntings have taken place at the farm, with residents awoke in a dark female figure who appears to be standing at the bed, the doorknob has been rattled several times with nobody on the other side. A cupboard in the kitchen fills with the smell of methane gas, which disappears quite suddenly and quite often the dogs often glance up into a corner of the kitchen as if they are watching something.

Both properties have their own little unexplained occurrences where small objects frequently disappear, from bedroom slippers sets of kitchen knives and soon reappear awhile later but others remain lost for good.

The white lady has also reputedly been seen at the library, the Manor Hotel and also the Green Dragon Pub.