White Horse at Bridge circa 1970.

Above two photos by Paul Skelton, 22 Aug 2008.

From the book "Inns of Kent"; Whitbread & Co. Ltd.; 1948.

Leaving Canterbury by the Dover road, you will come after three miles to Bridge, and there in the centre of the village The "White Horse" stands to welcome you. This inn was once a 'baiting' or halting house, hardly distant enough from Dover for a full stage but convenient for a change of horses. It is neet and proper that the forge should be next door, thus providing yet another example of that happy English disposition to live by taking in each other's washing. Shoeing the horses changed at the inn would be hot work and the pint of Kentish ale literally at the elbow a pleasant means of returning patronage; and so, no doubt, both smith and innkeeper prospered through the centuries until the New Iron Age.

The "White Horse" is old, as may be seen from the Tudor fireplace in the large bar with its moulded beams above. Dimly seen in the background of the cellar behind the bar are many barrels with neat linen covers, waiting to be broached, for here all beer is drawn direct from the wood. On the lintel of the great fireplace may be seen the remains -- now, alas, almost indecipherable -- of a white horse painted long, long ago; surely a rare place to find an inn sign!

The front of The "White Horse" is Regency, or very early simple Victorian. There is a car park and, behind, the kind of garden only Kent can produce -- but then it is in the heart of the Garden of England and Bridge is surrounded by orchards, parks and the seats of the gentry and nobility, most of whom, one is glad to hear, are content to share their wide domains, temporarily at least, with those who can appreciate to the full the beauties of nature.

Saturday 30th June 2007. Ghost Search.

White Horse Inn, The Posting House, though Bridge is only half a stage from Dover. It has an 18th century exterior, with late medieval core. An Early 16th century inscription on the fireplace lintel is insitu. The house is visible in Schellinks' 1661 drawing of the High Street. Cathedral archives record a brawl here involving Christopher Applegate, a Marlowe contemporary, and the first meeting of the workhouse guardians was held here, 22 April 1835.

A good number of orbs were captured on camera when we visited this inn on our scanning appointment.

A male energy, who felt cold as he approached, made it clear that he considered himself to be the 'boss' of this establishment. He came across as stern, strict yet kind hearted and I feel that at one time he could well have been a Landlord. He was a full figure of a man who liked to smoke (you could tell that by the tobacco stains at the tip of his moustache); he was a lover of Ale and had a really deep belly laugh. This man would have passed over in the 1920’s. A military man stepped in to see us while we were there, he said he had no connection with the building, yet had said that his regiment had marched passed this building (the feeling was the 16th century). He came dressed in a red/burgundy jacket, red hat with a black peak. This gentleman (name given as James Donald Caprice) was shot in the neck by a musket ball. Strong connections as a coaching house were given (before we knew that it was a coaching house) and that an unexpected distinguished guest would have stayed here over night. We were given that a horses shoe came off (guest in a carriage) and they stopped over for this to be taken care of. I shall have this looked into to establish if this is true, but we were told that the special guest was non other than Queen Victoria??

A number of children were also on site, two being sisters, Katrina 12 years & Josephine 8 years, the surname given was Cartela (unknown spelling). Small Leylines runs through this property.

We have the whole of the property to discover, the top floor (rooms in attic) felt not as welcoming as the rest of the abode!

The Investigation Report.

It was one of those venues, full of promise, but with little forthcoming on the night. It all seemed to be stop-start, with no flow.

We started with table tipping and although the table did move it was not the usual frantic movement, more of a stutter. We did however sit one of the female guests onto a stool and got Spirit to move the stool, but even this was limited to a small amount of movement and was over in a minute or two.

Our group then went to the living room and whilst standing in a circle several of the guests saw bright lights sparkle against the wall and move across the ceiling.

Steve felt a male energy but couldn’t seem to connect with him. I managed to get some information, his name was James Harrington, he stood about 5'10" and was slim with dark hair. He then just left us with no further information. One of the guests said that her hands felt tingly and she felt a heavy weight on her shoulder.

We then tried some glasswork, but again it was just stop/start with no real evidence or information being gained. I then tried an experiment with one of the EMF meters. I asked Spirit to step forward and light up the lights on the meter, and the lights all flashed almost straight away. I asked if the Spirit was a male and the lights did not move, but when asked if they were female the meter lit up like a Christmas tree. I had the name of Mary given to me, and, when I asked if this was her name, again the lights just danced. Using the lights (flashing=yes) we gleaned the following. Mary has passed over in 1720 (one of the guest had picked up this year). She had passed of old age, without any illness or disease. She had been married and had 9 children, and was happy to be re-united with her family in the world of Spirit. When I asked if she would try to move the glass for us, she gave us a yes. Unfortunately the movement did not happen.

We then went for a break and several guests had a go of the Ouija board with various levels of success.

We held a grand séance with everyone to end the night, just to see if we could generate enough energy to tempt Spirit though. There was only one person forthcoming. He presented himself to me as P/O Ray Williams (or Williamson). He was about 5'6" tall and had short dark hair swept straight back. He was wearing a flying jacket (brown fur lined leather) and fur lined boots. He had passed over aged 19yrs in 1942. He showed me a scene where as his plane went to take off, the right hand side undercarriage just collapsed and the plane exploded. This was to have been his first time in action. Carole (our host) informed us that during the 2nd world war the pub had been used as a billet for air force officers.

Donna asked him if he would tell us his parents names and he replied his Mums name was Morag, but that was all that I could get from him before he left.

All in all bit of a disappointing night, but not a complete loss.

Many thanks to Carole for her hospitality and the tasty buffet.

Pete & Steve (Ghost Search Uk Paranormal investigators).

http://www.ghostsearchuk.co.uk/

From the Kentish Gazette, February 27 to March 3, 1770. Kindly sent from Alec Hasenson.

Cock-fighting at the White Horse in Bridge, March 6, 1770.