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The Street / Maypole Lane in 1851
Pluckley-cum-Pevington
01233 840668
https://www.blackhorsepluckley.co.uk/
https://whatpub.com/black-horse-inn
Above photo, circa 1901. Kindly sent by Rory Kehoe. |
Above postcard, postmarked 1904, by Chris Cleave. |
Above postcard, 1905, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe. |
Above postcard, circa 1906, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe. |
Above postcard, date unknown, kindly submitted by Mark Jennings. |
Above postcard, circa 1931, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe. |
Above postcard, 1940, kindly sent by Garth Wyver. |
Above photo, circa 1949. Kindly sent by Rory Kehoe. |
Above postcard, circa 1957, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe. |
Above postcard, 1977, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe. |
Above photo, 1988. |
 Above photo 2009 by
Oast House Archives
Creative Commons Licence. |
Photo by Nigel Chadwick 2011 from
http://www.flickr.com. |
 
Above card, date and series unknown. |
 
Above sign left, 1967, sign right, painted by local Sign Artist, Peter J Ordreive,
date 2014.
With thanks from Brian Curtis
www.innsignsociety.com. |
Above photo 2019. |
Like many other buildings in and around Pluckley, the "Black Horse"
sports mullioned, round-topped "Dering" windows, which was the hallmark of
properties within the Dering family's Surrenden House estate. The caption
under the 1901 photo refers to the fact that Pluckley is said to be Kent's
most haunted village. Apparently, in 1996, a barmaid was walking home from
her shift, when she noticed a woman, dressed in red, moving amongst the
gravestones in the adjacent churchyard, as if looking for one in particular.
The barmaid only realised something was strange, when the woman in red
passed through two of the gravestones!
The Black Horse was once a farmhouse with its own moat, and then the
bailiff's house from which the Dering Estate was managed. A delightful
fifteenth century building, the pub has a poltergeist, nothing unusual in a
village with as many ghosts as Pluckley claims to have.
The Black Horse was the family emblem of the Dering family who owned much
of Pluckley and surrounding areas.
Dering windows are found in Pluckley and surrounding areas, and named
after the Dering family. They are identified by their round tops above each
casement.
It is said that during the civil war (1642-1652) one of the Royalist
members of the Dering family escaped through one of these windows.
Considering them lucky, Sir Edward Cholmeley Dering had all the windows on
the estate (which included much of the village) replaced with the same style
windows.
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Salisbury and Winchester Journal 27 November 1820.
Two very large turnips were lately grown on land at Surrenden, in the
occupation of Mr. Peter Richards, of the "Black Horse," Pluckley; one of
which weighed 17 ¼ lbs and measured three feet two inches in
circumference; the other weighed 16 ½ lbs. and measured three feet in
circumference.
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From the Kentish Gazette, 28 November 1843.
OPEN TO ALL ENGLAND.
A PIGEON SHOOTING MATCH for a FAT HOG, weighing 40 Score, by 20
Subscribers, at 20s. each, will come off at the "Black Horse Inn,"
PLUCKLEY, within a mile of the South Eastern Railway Station on
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1843. Charge of Shot limited to 1 1/2 ounce.
Names to be entered by Thursday, December 21st, and the Money to be paid
in advance.
For further Particulars, &c., apply to R. Rose, Bread and Biscuit Baker,
Pluckley, Kent.
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Kentish Gazette 13 February 1849.
ASHFORD.
A few evenings since, the landlord of the "Black Horse Inn," Pluckley, on
crossing the road at about nine o'clock, saw a person lying on his back,
with his arms extended. He (supposing the person to be intoxicated)
went to assist him by placing him on his legs, when to all appearance he
was asleep, but on taking him into his house, with the assistance of
other parties, it was discovered that he was dead. He proved to be Mr. Firman, late of the
"Walnut Tree Inn," Aldington, who had arrived at the
Pluckley station, and was on his way to Charing, where he resided. He
had a considerable sum of money on his person. |
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Kentish Gazette 5 September 1865.
Mischievously Drunk.
A foolishly talkative old fellow, belonging to Pluckley, named John
Lennard, was charged with unlawfully damaging a certain harness, the
property of John Hills, of Ashford, baker.
It appeared that Hills and a man named Spicer, are in the habit of
travelling about the country with fish. On Saturday evening week, they
stopped at the "Black Horse Inn," Pluckley, with their cart, and while
Spicer, who is known as “Folkestone Billy,” went into the house to sell
the fish, Hills remained outside holding the horse by the head. Several
idlers outside began playing tricks with the cart, and the defendant
undid the breeching, &c. On being remonstrated with, he said "If Hills
did not like that, he would cut the harness," and he did in fact cut the
reins and belly girth with a garden knife. He was the worse for liquor,
and some of the parties hoisted him up in the cart, where he sat till
"Billy" came out.
The defendant said he did not cut the harness; two young men named Pile
and Buss placed him in the cart, and then cut the harness that he might
be tipped out. The Magistrates fined the defendant 10s., the amount of
damage to the harness, 1s. penalty and 11s. costs, or one month’s
imprisonment with hard labour.
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From the Kentish Express, 26 September 1908.
Licensing Business.
The Licensing Justices, Lieut.-Colonel Cheesman presiding,
considered the plans for the alterations to the "George Hotel,"
Ashford. Mr. H. J. Bracher "explained that it was proposed to
lighten the dark room and passage on the ground floor, to knock down
the wall on the left side, and to substitute a partition for the
wall on the other aide, magistrates signified their acquiescence.
Temporary transfers confirmed:—
"Black Horse," Pluckley, to William Fidler.
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From the Kentish Express, 22 January 1932.
LICENSEES' DEATHS AT ASHFORD AMD PLUCKLEY.
Licensees in the Ashford district will regret to hear of the death
of two of their colleague this week.
The elder. Mr. William Joseph Fidler, of the "Black Horse," Pluckley, who died on Thursday, was
one of the oldest licensees in the Ashford licensing division and
had been at Pluckley for many years.
The other Mr. Ernest John
Richards, aged fifty-nine, had been licensee of the "Denmark Arms,"
South Ashford, for thirty years. He died on Tuesday after a brief
illness. Before becoming licence of the "Denmark Arms" he was
employed at the old brewery in Dover-place, Ashford. Mr. Richards
was a member of the Stour Lodge of Freemasons, of the Ashford
Bowling Club and of the R.A.O.B., and for many years was an
enthusiastic member of the Ashford and District Licensed
Victuallers' Association.
The funeral of Mr. Richards takes place this Friday (service,
parish—church. 2.20 pm) and that of Mr. Fidler on Monday at Pluckley.
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From the Kentish Express, 22 April 1932.
PLUCKLEY LICENSEES FUNERALS.
THE LATE MR W. F. FIDLER.
The funeral took place at Pluckley Parish Curch on Saturday of Mr.
William Frank Fidler, the licensee of the "Black Horse," who died
last week, aged thirty-nine years, a few month after the death of
his father, the former licensee of the inn.
The chief mourners at the service, conducted by the rector (the Rev.
R. B. Pyper), were Mr. R. H. Fidler (brother). Mrs. E. Willson
(sister). Mrs. E. Philpott. Mrs. Joy and Messrs. T. Tiffen, C. Buss.
A. Howland. W. Back. B. File, E. Maylam. H. Turff, J. Ashdown. R.
Batt. J. and F. Kemp. B. Ralph, T. Oakley. T., D. and J. Black. A.
G. Homewood. G. Watts, A. Sullivan, E. Hardysty, F. and S. Gates, E.
Terrell. C. Masters. W. Pannell, J. Daly, H. Evenden, W. Luckhurst,
F. G. Wells, L. Heaseman, Inspector Evans. R.S.P.C.A., P. Filmer, G.
Ralph, Mr. and Mrs. E. Black, Mrs. Chick, Mrs. Goldup, Miss
Homewood, Mrs. J. Miles and Miss Hogben.
The Royal East Kent Mounted Rifles, in which the late Mr. Fidler
served during the Great War, was represented by Dr. C. Tilbury Fox
and Messrs. W. Wright, A. Harrison, K. Sells and W. Gann; the
Pluckley Cricket Club by Messrs. G. Underdown. B. Millgate, E. and
J. Blackman; the Pluckley British Legion by Major Mitchell, Captain
Austin, Messrs. F. V. Weeks. C. Heathfield, B. Harlow and B. George;
and the Pluckley R.A.O.B. by Messrs. J. B. Blackman, W. Goldup, W.
Chick, R. Farrance, W. Paries, W. Pannell, C. Mullins, I. Pile, A.
Miles, A. Leonard, Joe Charing, P. Marchant, H. Coombes and A.
Baldock.
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From
http://www.ghostpubs.com accessed 17 June 2015.
HAUNTED.
The village, reports claim, as being the most haunted in the country.
At one time in village history, people said there were 12 ghosts
haunting Pluckley. These included a phantom coach and horses, black
dogs, White Ladies, a Red Lady, with a man who screams. When an earlier
Lady Dering died, a gravedigger buried her body in three coffins to keep
her young and beautiful forever. However, she escaped the coffins, she
is said to manifest in the church with a red rose in her hand. The ghost
of another, Lady Dering, witnesses see, wandering looking for a child
that she had lost giving birth. Some years ago, a taxi driver reported
picking up a fare at the side of the road in Pluckley. However, when he
turned around to ask the passenger for his destination, the man had
disappeared. At the "Black Horse," there are reports of articles being
spirited away on a regular basis, only to be replaced in much the same
position later. The proprietor of the "Walnut
Tree," Aldington, said that a woman he knew was working at the
"Black Horse," who put down her handbag and cardigan in the same place
every day. On one occasion, they went missing, and, two years later to
the day, there was a thunderous knocking at the back door. When one of
the kitchen staff opened the door, there was no one to be seen. Shortly
afterwards, the cardigan and bag, people found, where they had been left
previously. The poltergeist in residence is a woman called Jessie Brooks
who expired in the skittle alley. She is also seen wandering, searching
for a child she had lost, according to the legend.
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From the
https://www.kentonline.co.uk By Ed McConnell, 28 October 2019.
Haunted pubs in Kent this Halloween.
Kent's colourful history and strong ties to smuggling mean it has its
fair share of ghost stories.
Pluckley's title of England's Most Haunted Village means, according
to the owner's of the "Black Horse," that it must therefore be one of
the most haunted pubs in the country and at the very least the most
haunted in Kent, and who are we to argue? Back in 1989 the people at
Guinness World Records awarded the picturesque rural settlement Most
Haunted status and officially recorded it as being home to 12 ghosts,
although some claim there are 16. It's unclear exactly how they settled
on the lower figure but the list includes the spirit of an old lady who,
drunk on gin, inadvertently torched herself while trying to flog
watercress (The Watercress Woman), a highwayman reportedly pinned to a
tree by a sword and a screaming man who fell to his death at a
brickworks. The pub itself was built in the 1470s and has since
collected two ghouls. One poltergeist is known for moving glasses and
belongings which can go missing "for days on end", while punters have
also felt and seen the presence of a small boy. It is, however, hard to
find much back story for either.
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From an email received 16 November 2020. I am writing to share some
information about the “Black Horse” pub in Pluckley.
I have recently discovered that there have been sightings that others
have also witnessed. All this time I thought I was going mental after my
encounter and the understanding that what I saw wasn’t real. However I
can still remember exactly what I saw.
Me and my Friend went to Pluckley, we’ve both always wanted to look
around for ourselves, we took a walk around everywhere and spent most of
the day there.
As we were about to leave to return home, we were in the car and both
noticed the curtain in the top middle window of the pub was moving as if
someone was there, so we sat there watching this go on for some time
until it stopped. We looked away momentarily and on looking back saw
this little boy holding open the window just staring at us, with a dead
look in the eyes. Everyone else was just walking past and didn't seem to
noticed him. He was very very pale, his hair swept to the side and he
appeared to be wearing Victorian clothes, like a chequered blazer with a
white top. We drove off and right up to turning the corner his eyes
appeared to be following the car. We’ve not been there since.
Macy Cooper.
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From an email received 30 July 2021. We visited the Black Horse in
Pluckley a few weeks ago. I was sitting with my mum having a wonderful
lunch together and my mum had a cold shiver running down her and I was
making fun of there being a presence behind her (safe to say she was not
amused). About 20 minutes later I, for some reason, looked to my left
and saw a small boy with Sandy hair and a white shirt and jacket. He was
just standing there, staring at me. The owner walked by a couple of
seconds later and he was gone. Safe to say it freaked me out and I told
my mum about what just happened. I managed to talk myself out of it and
we returned to our holiday cottage in Whitstable.
However my mum went on a search to see if anyone else had seen the
same thing and lo and behold your website has someone with the same
ghost. I am a creative person and my imagination does get away with me
but the vision of him standing there was as clear as day and exactly how
the other person described him. The only difference being I was in the
building. I can still see him in my head a few weeks later standing
there as he looked so helpless and sad.
Yours faithfully,
Abi Porter. |
As the information is found or sent to me, including photographs, it will
be shown here.
Thanks for your co-operation.
LICENSEE LIST
RICHARDS Peter 1820+
SMITH Nathaniel 1841-71+ (widow age 69 in 1871)
SMITH Robert (son) 1881-91+ (age 45 in 1891)
KEELER Harry 1901-03+ (age 40 in 1901)
FIDLER William Joseph Sept/1908-32 dec'd (age 48 in 1911)
FIDLER William Frank (son) to April/1932 dec'd
STAUNTON Drew & Peggy pre 1970s
From the Kelly's Directory 1903
Census
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