WHITE HORSE Pub of Bilsington

DOVER KENT ARCHIVES

Page Updated:- Saturday, 19 August, 2023.

PUB LIST

PUBLIC HOUSES

Paul Skelton

Earliest 1813-

White Horse

Open 2020+

The Cross

Bilsington

01233 721487

http://thewhitehorse-bilsington.co.uk/

https://whatpub.com/white-horse

Above postcard, circa 1920, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe.

Above photo 2009 by Nick Smith Creative Commons Licence.

Above photo by Paul Skelton, 27 June 2015.

Above sign left, July 1991, sign right 2015.

With thanks from Brian Curtis www.innsignsociety.com.

Above signs 2015. Taken by Paul Skelton, 27 June 2015.

The property dates from the late 18th century and is a Grade II listed building. I am informed that the pub was trading as a free house in 2015.

The 1861 census referred to this as the "Cross Inn" as the address is The Cross, so I assume this was an error on the part of the census.

Kentish Weekly Post or Canterbury Journal, Friday 2 April 1813.

OAK TIMBER.

To be sold by auction, at the "White Horse," Bilsington Cross, on Saturday the 10th day of April, at one o'clock.

Sundry Lots of Oak Timber, now marked and standing in Golden Wood, in the parish of Aldington, subject to the conditions then produced.

March 13, 1813.

Kentish Gazette, Tuesday 5 July, 1853.

To Brewers and Publicans. Bilsington.

To be sold by auction, by Messrs. Bailey and Reeve. On Tuesday, July 12th, 1853, at three o'clock in the "Saracens Head" in Ashford.

A freehold public house called the "White Horse," with a Grocer's and Butcher's Shop, yard, garden, stable, and other outbuildings; situate at Bilsington Cross, in the parish of Bilsington, in the county of Kent, on the borders of Romney Marsh, and now in the occupation of Mr. Catt.

For further particulars apply to Messrs. Furleys and Mercer, Solicitors; or to the Auctioneers, Ashford.

Southeastern Gazette, 28 June 1853.

TO BREWERS AND PUBLICANS. BILSINGTON.

TO BE SOLD BY AUCTION, By Messrs. BAYLEY & REEVE, On Tuesday, July 12th, 1853, at Three o’clock in the afternoon, at the "Saracen’s Head Inn," Ashford,

A FREEHOLD PUBLIC-HOUSE, called "The White Horse," with a Grocer’s and Butcher’s Shop, yard, garden, stable, and other outbuildings, situate at Bilsington-cross, in the parish of Bilsington, in the county of Kent, on the borders of Romney Marsh, and now in the occupation of Mr. Catt.

For further particulars apply to Messrs. Furleys and Mercer, Solicitors, or to the Auctioneers, Ashford.

Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald, Saturday 03 June 1933.

Youth association with widow. Leads to fight with brother.

Bilsington man in assault case.

Details of a 20 year old youth association with a 30 year old widow, the mother of three children, contrary to his parents wishes, and a fight with his 24 year old brother, were told during the hearing of an assault case at Elham Petty Sessions on Thursday.

Don Newman, of the "White Horse," Bilsington, Miller, was charged with assaulting Lily Agnes Talana Ridgwell, of St Martin's Cottage, Aldington, on May 18th, at Aldington.

He was found guilty and fined £2 7s. including costs, and was bound over for 12 months.

The Magistrates were Colonel E. R. Wayland (in the chair), Mr. Charles Sheath, Mr. J. J. Clayson, Major J. G. Welch and Councillor J. S. Clarke.

Mr. J. Mowll appeared for Newman, who pleaded not guilty.

Mrs. Redgwell, in evidence, said she was returning home from Dymchurch on May 18th with defendants brother, Sydney Newman, both of them riding bicycles, when the defendant came along on a motorcycle from behind them. He jumped off his machine whilst it was still going, and it ran into the hedge. He came up to his brother and struck him, and when his brother turned around to speak to her, defendant struck her on the face. He punched her on the right side of jaw, and knocked her down. Next she remembered seeing the two brothers fighting, and she got up and went between them to stop them. Defendant afterwards picked up his machine and rode off calling out names to her. Witness wrote the names on a piece of paper, which was handed to the Magistrates. Knew of parents objection.

She had no previous quarrel with John Newman. He had not raised any objections to her going out with his brother, but his people had. She sought a doctor on the following day.

Cross examined by Mr. Mowll, Mrs. Ridgewell said she knew Sydney Newman was 20 years of age. It was a fact that his parents objected to his going out with her. She was 30 years of age, and had three children.

On the morning after the alleged assault she was able to cycle to work.

Mr. Mowll:- Was not this trouble due to the fact that you interviewed between the two brothers?

I did not interfere.

Did you hear the defendant sat to his brother "Isn't it nearly time this game finished?

No, all he said was that he was to go home as his mother was lying very ill.

Did Sydney Newman say: "So this is what you are doing, chasing about after me?"

No.

Dr. A. E. MacMillan, New Romney, said he saw Mrs. Redgwell on May 19th, and she was suffering from a contusion on the right side of the lower jaw, bruising on the surface of the lip, and two lose teeth on the right side of the jaw. The injuries were consistent with the possibility of her having been struck, it would have been a fairly heavy blow.

The Chairman:- Could it have been caused by her falling off a bicycle?

Yes, it could, but I think it is more likely that it was caused by a blow.

Cross examined by Mr. Mowll, witness said the injuries could not be serious, but it was possible for injuries caused by a blow to turn serious.

Turned out of home.

Sydney Newman was then called, and gave corroborative evidence regarding the alleged incident.

Mr. Miller:- Do you know your parents have a strong objection to your association with Mrs. Redgwell, and have done their best to keep you from meeting her?

Yes.

Do you live at home with your parents?

I have been.

You have been out of work?

Yes.

And they have been keeping you?

Yes.

As far as Mrs. Redgwell is concerned you have had no regard for your parents?

I was turned out of home.

When?

The day before this happened.

Because you have been associated with Mrs. Redgwell?

Yes.

This concluded the evidence for the prosecution.

Mr. Mowll, addressing the Bench, said he could call his client to make a complete denial of assault. He would say that is struck Mrs. Redgwell, purely by accident, when she attempted to separate him from his brother when they were fighting. He was very sorry for having struck a woman, but it was an accident, and he thought, when the Bench had before them the reason for that, their sympathies would be very much with the Newmans' parents. There was a young man, not yet of age, going out with a woman considerably older than himself; his parents doing all they could to stop what they considered an association which should not be. It had all come about through Mrs. Redgwell. The brother was only acting for his parents in trying to get the youth away. It was not surprising that they came to blows.

Without discipline.

He hoped, for the future piece of the family, if such a thing could be, that the Bench would caution all parties in the case, and leave it at that, because it was a disgraceful thing that a boy out of work, his parents looking after him, a boy without any sort of discipline in his life except the discipline his brother was trying to exercise, could be taken away by Mrs. Redgwell.

The Clerk:- You are not suggesting that there is anything criminal in a boy going out with a woman on bicycles?

Well, the boy is under age, and it is not right.

The Magistrates retired, and upon their return, the Chairman said Newman was found guilty of assaulting Mrs. Redgwell, and would be fined 20s., with one £1 and 7s. costs, and would be bound over for 12 months in the sum of £5.

Newman asked for time to pay, and was allowed one month.

I am informed that of August 2018 the pub was under sale for an asking price of £599,950.

From the https://www.kentonline.co.uk By Sam Williams, 27 March 2019.

Former owner of The White Horse pub in Bilsington, near Ashford, prosecuted by Southern Water for sewer abuse.

The ex-owner of a pub has been fined more than £8,000 after pleading guilty to contaminating Southern Water's sewage network.

An investigation by the water company revealed oil from an old central heating tank found at The White Horse, in Bilsington, was running into an open drain through a hosepipe which had been attached.

The oil travelled through the sewer network and polluted Southern Water's rural wastewater treatment works in the village.

It meant all the contaminated waste from the site had to be taken by tanker for special disposal in Norwich.

The contamination killed the natural bacteria which processes the waste, so the site was out of action for several days until the site could be re-started.

The pub was found to be the culprit following an investigation by David Burnett, Southern Water's network enforcement protection officer for Kent.

He said: "Once we'd been alerted to the problem at the treatment works, I carried out a systematic investigation of the area, looking at all domestic and commercial properties which might have been the source of the pollution.

"It's a small village and the only source of heating here is oil, solid fuel or calor gas.

"Following an initial chat with staff at the pub, I asked to be shown where the oil was stored and was taken to the garden, where I was greeted by an old central heating tank which had been cut up into pieces.

"The old base was full of a watery oil substance and a hosepipe connected to the valve of the old base, draining into an open drain just outside the kitchen area.

"I carried out a dye test, which led straight out into the sewer system and on to our treatment works, so was clearly the source of the pollution."

The water firm took Gordon Russell, who owned the pub at the time, to court where he was charged with 'permitting passing into public sewer of matter likely to injure sewer or drain'.

Following a guilty plea at Folkestone Magistrates last week, he was fined a total of £8,418.

Mr Burnett adds: "The successful conviction and fine at court demonstrates that we take a very robust approach to people polluting our treatment works.

"We hope this will send out a strong message to make people more aware about the problems putting the wrong things down the drain and the consequences they could face by doing so."

The White Horse is now under new ownership.

LICENSEE LIST

RANSLEY William 1828+