From the Dover Express and East Kent News, Friday, 16 Sept, 1904. Price 1d.

An hour's extension was allowed to Mr. G. Drew, at the " Bell," Shepherdswell, on September 24th was granted, on the occasion of a harvest supper.

From the Dover Express and East Kent News, 19 February, 1915.

LICENSING

The licence of the "Bell," Shepherdswell was transferred from Mr. G. Drew to Mr. W. Hopton, who is a miner working at Snowdown.

Objection was raised that the new licensee would continue at work, and Mr. Edward Chitty said that he ought to give an undertaking not to work during the evening. he thought that houses which would not support a man entirely should be closed.

Mr. Hopton said that his brother would always be at home when he was away.

From the Dover Express and East Kent News. 24 June, 1938. Price 1½d.

LICENCE TRANSFERS

The licence of the “Bell Inn,” Shepherdswell, was granted an extension from 2.30 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, 25th, for sports in aid of the Hospital.

From the Dover Express and East Kent News. 8 October, 1942.

Plans approval.

Plans for alterations at "The Bell" Inn, Shepherdswell were approved by the Bench.

From the Dover Express and East Kent News. 26 April, 1963.

Funeral of Mr. E. L. Copley.

Mineworker and Licensee.

Employed at Tilmanstone Colliery for thirty-one years, for over ten years landlord of the "Walmer Castle," Market Square, and for the last four years at the "Bell Inn," Shepherdswell, Mr. Ernest Leo Copley died on Thursday last week aged 58 years.

In his younger days a keen local footballer, he was a Special Constable during the war, and the founder of the Copley Rangers Skittles Team.

The Rec. C. J. H. Martin, Vicar of Shepherdswell, conducted the service at Barham Crematorium on Tuesday.

The family mourners were; Mrs. V. C. Copley (widow), Mr. and Mrs. C. Copley (son and daughter-in-law), Mr. and Mrs. H. Copley (brother and sister-in-law), Mrs. M. Webb (cousin), and Mr. John Cocking.

Floral tributes included those from the Directors of Fremlins, the L.V.A., Copley Rangers, Dover Football Club and Supporters' Association, friends at the "Bell," the O.A.P. Club, and Dover Skittles Association.

The arrangements were by E. Wooldridge, of Shepherdswell.

From the Dover Express and East Kent News. 7 June, 1963.

The new Fremlins Knock-Out Darts Cup was won for the first time by the "Bell," Shepherdswell, on Thursday last week when they best the "Criterion" by three straight legs in the final at the "Falcon" Hotel. "Bell" team skipper Sammy Hall received the trophy from Mr. John Coomber, Fremlins Area Manager, Holding the runners-up cup is Ron Bishop, skipper of the "Criterion" team, and Ken Brown, the competition secretary looks on.

From the Dover Express, 11 March 1999, by Terry Sutton.

Help me track down the ghosts.

JENNY Bushell, landlady at The Bell, Inn at Shepherdswell, is busy researching the history of the pub and the village.

And she has appealed to Dover Express readers to help out with old photographs of the four pubs that once existed in Shepherdswell.

Jenny, 43, who moved into The Bell last August, believes the pub maybe haunted because some strange things happen there. A gallows tree, she said, once stood outside the pub.

She wants any old pictures of the village to copy.

She will then hang them on the walls for visitors to study.

Jenny said the four pubs once in the - village were The "Leather Bottle", which many remembered, but no one seemed to have a picture; The "Whitehall" that gained national publicity as the home of a range of death masks; The "Bricklayers Arms" (of which she has a picture dated around 1969) and The Bell of which she has a 1920 photo.

"The village green outside our pub, used to be a pond. We've not managed to discover any pictures of that, although we have one of it dried up before it was planted with trees for Queen Victoria's jubilee," said Jenny.

She said locals had told her about two ghosts said to haunt the pub. One is supposed to be the ghost of a young girl who seems to hang around the fireplace and the other is of a young man.

"Strange things happen. Sometimes the dog won't settle down and then starts barking like mad. But he is 17, years old!

"And our two cats race up and down the stairs. And pictures mysteriously fall off the wall," said Jenny, who believes The Bell goes back as a pub 300 years or more. Before that. she said, it was a house.

From the Dover Express, 29 June 2006.

PUB DESTROYED: Fire starts in roof before closing time.

FOUR walls are all that remain of The Bell Inn in Shepherdswell after a fire broke out in Its roof just before last orders.

About 40 fire-fighters spent the night getting the blaze under control, but everything was destroyed by the fire, smoke and water.

Yet villagers are optimistic that the historic pub in the heart of the community can be restored to its former glory.

A PAIR of pub owners saw their livelihood go up in smoke last week as a blaze broke out in Shepherdswell.

The fire started at the Bell Inn pub in Church Hill at around 10.10pm last Wednesday.

Customers got their first indication something was wrong when they smelt what they believed to be burning rubber coming from outside.

Tony Dannunzio, 28, of Mill Lane, said: ''I'd only been in the pub for about five minutes. I went to the machine to get some cigarettes.

"I smelt what seemed like tar burning as if someone was laying a new road surface and when the landlady went out to check, the roof was on fire."

A team from Dover fire station was called, and arrived around 20 minutes later.

Despite their best efforts, all that remained of the building's roof was its chimney stacks.

Landlady Roberta Byrne, who took over the site with husband Roy in 2002, said customers had been safely evacuated, but her daughter's gerbil had perished during the incident.

She said: "We are all in a fair amount of shock."

The family, who had been living at the pub, have moved to their house in Folkestone Road, Dover while an investigation into the cause of the blaze continues.

It was believed to have started in the loft.

Andrea Crawford, 38, who worked as a bartender at the pub, said residents were planning to put on a series of fundraising events to help contribute to the cost of the repairs.

She said: "The pub will be deeply missed. It had such a nice atmosphere for the young and the elderly. Everyone was made welcome."

From the Dover Express, 6 July 2006.

Pub fire facts.

I WOULD like to clarify some of facts in your recent article about a fire in a pub in Shepherdswell.

The article was rather misleading as it stated "A team from Dover fire station was called, and arrived 20 minutes later." This is incorrect. In addition, it reads: "The fire started at the Bell Inn pub in Church Hill at around 10.10pm."

In fact, 999 control centre operators received a call from a member of the public at 10.26pm on June 21. Following this, three fire appliances from Aylesham, Eastry and Whitfield were sent, the first of which arrived at the scene within 12 minutes. The crews quickly assessed the situation and called for further assistance. Three appliances from Dover, Ashford and St Margaret's were then sent to the scene and all arrived by 10.53pm.

The damage to the building was substantial, but no one was injured despite fire-fighters discovering a smoke alarm that was not working. I would like to take this opportunity to remind people to test their smoke alarms regularly.

Sadly, Kent Fire and Rescue Service has received a number of calls from the public asking why it took so long for our fire crews to arrive as a result of the misleading information published in the Express. I hope this letter will clarify the facts.

Steve Demetriou,

Chief Executive of Kent Fire & Rescue.