From the Dover Express and East Kent News, Friday 20 September, 1912.

WINGHAM PETTY SESSIONS

TRACTION ENGINE STEAM ESCAPING

George Tuscall, a traction engine driver, was summonsed for allowing steam to escape from his engine on the public highway in sight of horses, contrary to the Locomotive Act, on July 30th, at Sholden.

Mr. A. K. Mowll appeared to defend, and pleaded not guilty.

Mr. Tom Cooper, of Finglesham, a master plasterer, said that on July 30th he drove to Margate with three van loads of children. On returning along the road leading from Sandwich to Deal, at about 10.30 p.m., when within 300 yards of the "Coach and Horses" public house, Sholden (I believe it to be this pub at Hacklinge) they heard a noise of steam blowing from a locomotive, as if the engine was about to burst. The wind blew the steam from the locomotive onto the road. They had to stop the horses 300 yards on the Sandwich side of the "Coach and Horses," because they thought it dangerous to pass the engine. Witness went up to the engine, which was outside the public house, and found no one attending it. He saw it was one of T.T. Denne's. He then went to the door of the public house and saw three men drinking at the bar. He called to them, and the driver came out and got on the engine and stopped the steam so that they might pass, which they did. The pressure of the steam previously was enough to scald any bodies legs.

In reply to Supt. Stone, witness said the locomotive was partly on the turnpike road and partly on the "draw-up" which belonged to the road. One wheel was on the main road.

Henry William Wyborn, market gardener of Finglesham, said he was driving the last of the 3 vans. Mr. Cooper was in the front one, and he said he heard steam being blown off. He saw the engine standing in front of the "Coach and Horses" when he drove by afterwards, but not before. Both wheels were on the road.

P.C. Vennell, of great Mongeham, said that he had measured the road. It was 20ft., that was the part kept by the Council. He passed it.

In reply to Mr. Mowll, witness said there was a piece 18ft. between the "Coach and Horses" and the tarred road, so that the total space was front forty feet.

Mr. A. K. Mowll for the defence said he should think the ground on which the locomotive was perched up was not the highway, but the property of the Brewery, and also that the cylinder taps were turned off, and any steam which blew off was not defendant's fault.

George Tuscall, of Upper Walmer, in the employ of Mr. T. T. Denne as an engine driver, said the engine and trailer were on private ground and the cylinder taps were shut. He disputed that there was more than a little steam, and he put it right in a minute or two. The horses went quiet quiet.

In reply to the Superintendent, witness said his engine wheel was 22 yards from the other side of the road. He was four or five yards off the road.

In reply to the Magistrate's Clerk, witness said that the steam came through the safety valve, and he could stop it by turning on water through the injector. It was safe to leave the engine as he had done. Had as much steam escaped as Mr. Cooper said, it would have taken some time to put right.

Charles Hooker, of Curson Terrace, Upper Walmer, a drayman to Messrs. Thompson and Son. said the engine was drawn up right off the tarred path of the road. He was just going to draw attention to the steam escaping when Mr. Cooper came, but it was only a little steam.

Mr. Mowll was going to call Mr. Ladbury to prove that the land was the private property of Messrs. Thompson, but the Magistrate's Clerk said that it did not effect the case as there was a public right of way.

The Bench, after retiring, decided to dismiss the case on a technical point, but they warned defendant to be more careful in future not to blow of steam to the danger of horses near the highway.

From the Dover Express, 10 September, 1971.

UNUSUAL HOBBY GIVES LANDLORD WIDE VARIETY OF 'SMOKES'

Anyone who tells Mr. Larry Searle, 54-year-old landlord of the "Coach and Horses" on the Deal road out of Sandwich to "put that in your pipe and smoke it," may be accused of being vague. For Mr. Searle has a collection of no less than 80 pipes of every conceivable shape and vintage and 60 of them are in regular use.

They are the product of a collectors mind and an eye for the unusual spread over 38 years of steady puffing. Though they are displayed on the wall of the saloon bar visitors usually respect the "Do not touch" notice and only one has been broken.

The finest example is a beautifully carved and melowly coloured merschaum in the shape of a girl's head which is well over 100 years old and possibly the most unusual one in which the bowl is a piece of raw merschaum clay.

Some have unusual stories behind them. One a briar carved to resemble a football balanced on the toe of a football boot was picked up in the Italian lines by a member of the advancing eighth army in 1943, in the western desert. Another is an old army field pipe of ingenious design. When not in use its parts screw together to form a dust proof unit which could be carried in the pocket.

Almost the newest and certainly the most elegant is a gilded and jewelled contemporary lady's pipe given to Mr. Searle by a leading tobacco firm when a mammoth "smoke-in" was held at the inn.

Mr. Searle with a selection of his pipe collection.