SHIP INN Pubs of Sandgate

DOVER KENT ARCHIVES

PUB LIST

PUBLIC HOUSES

Paul Skelton

Earliest 1798

Ship Inn

Still open

65 High Street

Sandgate

Above photo taken borrowed from http://www.sandgate-kent.org.uk/shipinn.htm till I get another one.

Built around 1798.

Reputed to house a ghost called "The Fish Lady," who is said to pester customers she doesn't care for. It is believed she is a former landlady, and as the pub used to also house a fishmongers, this tale is certainly plausible. Another ghost having been seen is a soldier in Victorian uniform.

It was along this street that supplies came in for the 1st Light infantry in the eighteenth century. In 1798, the troops were based at Shornecliffe Camp when John Hogben was landlord and a popular inn it was then. The camp had been built in 1794 in preparation for the Napoleonic Wars. The Ship was also as popular during the Crimean War when the British German Legion was raised and camped nearby. In the 1920s, under the landlord Henry Beer, it was described as The World Famous Ship Inn, Sandgate.

According to a former barman, the following tale has been taken from http://www.sandgate-kent.org.uk/ghosts.htm:-

"I used to work at the Ship Inn whenever Stewart would have a night off. On the particular night in question me and my fellow barperson – a girl called Nikki – had closed up and were cashing up the till. Above the till is a CCTV monitor that looks down the corridor towards the toilets. As Nikki and I were at the till I noticed someone on the CCTV standing just outside of the kitchen door. To be honest the image was not clear but Nikki confirmed that there was someone standing there. I asked Nikki to watch the CCTV as I went to investigate. Firstly I looked out of the bar door and noticed the corridor was empty – damn who ever it is has disappeared into the kitchen and to be honest with the amount of knives etc. in there I wasn’t really looking forward to going in after them.

"Anyway, puffing out my chest and standing my full 5 foot 6 inches I proceeded down the corridor. As I approached the kitchen I prepared myself for the worst when I heard a scream coming from the bar. Worried that this intruder had somehow managed to nip into the back bar and was busy stealing Stewarts money or ravishing the barmaid I rushed to the bar where Nikki was standing as white as a – dare I say it… ghost – and I asked what was the trouble?

"With a huge tremor in her voice she said that she watched me on the CCTV monitor and apparently I walked straight through the person stood in the corridor!!! With that we left the pub… pretty quickly… Oh and I even left my house keys behind and had to wake Wendy the following morning at 6am so that I could get into my car and go to work!!!"

From the Dover Telegraph and Cinque Ports General Advertiser, Saturday 25 November, 1848. Price 5d.

SUDDEN DEATH

An inquest was held last week at the "Ship Hotel," Sandgate, upon the body of Mrs. T. B. Richardson, wife of the landlord of the above hotel, who expired after a few hours of illness on Saturday morning. The deceased was apparently well till nine o'clock on Friday evening, when she was suddenly seized in a fit, and Mr. Roscoe was immediately called in, but she never rallied, her death being attributed to apoplexy.

Verdict - "Died by the visitation of God."

LICENSEE LIST

HOGBEN John 1798-1816+

ROBERTS Richard 1823+