It is said that the devil's cave is under this stone, and that it contains hidden treasure. Many times the treasure has been sought for, but no bottom could be found to the stone; and hence it was supposed to be protected by the devil. Still adventurers continued to dig, until the excavated hollow round the base of the stone became filled with water, and it stood in the centre of a small lake. Then an attempt was made to draw it out of its place by a yoke of oxen, who strained so hard a the task that the chains snapped, and the attempt proved abortive; although the guardian spirit of the stone appears to have taken alarm at the project, for he is said to have flown away in the shape of a drake, at the moment when the chains broke. Subsequently the stone sank into the earth, and totally disappeared, and for many years the plough passed over it.

In all material points, I am persuaded that this tradition is purely mythological; for the Drake Stone was but slightly fixed in the earth, and at the time when these attempts were said to have been made, the bottom could not have exceeded a foot and a half from the surface of the ground; besides which, no one pretends to assert that any of these experiments occurred in his time; and the oldest person I have consulted, says, that "he had the tale from his fore-elders."

It is quite certain, [..] that Ethelred king of Mercia, was a great benefactor to [Bardney Abbey]. And when this monarch relieved himself from the cares of government after a long reign of war and bloodshed, in which he had recovered "the isle of Lindsey" from the Northumbrians, and ravaged the kingdom of Kent, sparing neither age nor sex, church, nor monastery, by resigning his kingdom; to atone for his misdeeds, he retired to spend the remainder of his life in Bardney Abbey, and accepted the office of its abbot [..]. A large barrow or tumulus still remains near the site of the abbey, where tradition says he was buried. It is called to this day "King's (Conig) Garth."