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Kentish Gazette - Canterbury, Kent, England, 27 January 1852.
Ramsgate.
At the County Court on Saturday a case was heard; which lasted from ten
in the morning till five in the afternoon and excited great interest. A
jury was sworn for its hearing.
Brett v James Bax, William Bax, Frederick Ford, Stephen Saunders,
Henry Miles and Robert Foreman.
Mr. Towne appeared for plaintiff, and stated this action to have been
brought by the plaintiff, who is landlord of the "Royal Exchange Inn,"
Monkton, to recover £50 damages for a most brutal assault committed upon
him by the defendants, on the 2nd December last, on the highway, near
Minster mills. The plaintiff had been to the ploughing match, in the
capacity of a vendor of beer, and returning home overtook five of the
defendants, having the sixth, William Bax, in a light spring van; when
they came up to him, and demanded of him a ride, which he refused, and
warned them off, but they persisting in their demand, he, at the
suggestion of William Bax, brother of James, used his whip to repel
them, as they were all attempting to get in; William Bax turned against
him (the plaintiff), pulled him head foremost out of the van, and let
him fall on his head to the road, where he lay for some time stunned,
until he succeeded in getting away from his assailants by the aid of
Edmund Price, a labourer, returning home, and he arrived at his home
covered with blood and mud, was obliged to go to bed, and had been
prevented following his occupation. Witnesses were called in support of
this statement.
Mr. Judge, for the defendants, contended that his clients were in a
measure justified, from the violence used by plaintiff, who had not
proved any great damage, having risen as early as eight o'clock on the
next morning, and that having no work to do he had not been prevented
following his occupation. The witness, Price, not calling assistance
when a large farm-house was at hand, his not complaining to the
magistrate, but accompanying the defendants to a public-house and
drinking with them, proved they were all alike. He then called witnesses
for the defence.
His Honor summed up and the jury retired, and after some time returned
with a verdict for the plaintiff as against James Bax, William Bax. F.
Ford, unit H. Miles; damages £12 and costs. Ordered to pay forthwith.
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From an email found on the internet written by Suzannah Foad. 18 January
2006. Village pubs are normally sited opposite churches but not in
Monkton's case. The former "Royal Exchange Inn," by Miller's Lane, is 50
yards down from the 12th Century Church of St Mary Magdalene while the
"White Stag" is at the Minster end of the 'Street'.
The diminutive "Royal Exchange" survives today as a Private Cottage.
However, in 1770 it was the haunt of John Gambrill and his gang 'who
spent most of their time either drinking beer or committing petty thefts
in the district'.
The gang got their come-uppance after a fight with the local
constabulary outside the pub. Gambrill ended up in the village stocks
that still survive on the green in front of the church.
Above photo by Colin Sinnott 9 October 2011.
However, his gang had not finished with their mischief, for he was
released and the Constable's daughter substituted in the Stocks. The
prank cost the gang a year on Maidstone gaol.
Somehow, Gambrill got off scot free, or did he? For he married the
Constable's daughter!
Around this time Monkton was on the main turnpike route to Ramsgate
and coaches would stop at the "Royal Exchange" before continuing up Miller
Lane to the "Prospect Inn" at Mount Pleasant.
With the advent of the
railway the Inn's staging function became redundant. The pub lingered on
until 1893 before closing, seemingly after pressure from the local
church based Temperance movement. So Monkton's complement of pubs was
reduced to one - The "White Stag."
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