WINDMILL INN Pubs of Cranbrook

DOVER KENT ARCHIVES

Page Updated:- Sunday, 31 March, 2024.

PUB LIST

PUBLIC HOUSES

Paul Skelton

Earliest 1828-

Windmill Inn

Closed Dec 2006

Windmill Hill / Waterloo Road

Cranbrook

Above photo September 2009 by David Anstiss Creative Commons Licence.

Above sign, November 1995.

With thanks from Brian Curtis www.innsignsociety.com.

Above photo February 2016 by Chris Whippet Creative Commons Licence.

Above card issued April 1955. Sign series 5 number 45.

Southeastern Gazette, 10 May 1853.

CRANBROOK. Petty Sessions, Thursday. (Before C. T. Pattenson, Esq., chairman, T. L. Hodges,. Esq., the Rev. F. Barrow, the Rev. J. Deedes, G. R. Stevenson, Esq., and W. P. Croughton, Esq.)

Joseph Ransley landlord of the "White Horse Inn," Elizabeth Wimsett, of the "Windmill Inn," and William Hollands, of the "White Lion Inn," all in the town of Cranbrook, were severally charged on the information of Isaac Rumens, constable of Cranbrook, with, having their houses open during divine service on Sunday afternoon, the 1st inst. The two first named persons pleaded guilty, and Ransley was fined 40s. and costs, and Mrs. Wimsett 10s. and costs. The case against Hollands was gone into, and Mr. Dadson deposed to visiting defendant's house, when he observed a quantity of what he believed to be beer spilt along the passage. This, coupled with some information brought by Rumens, who entered the back way, led him to go into the yard, where his attention was attracted to a coachhouse used as a skittle ground, by seeing a shutter put to. He enquired for the key of this building, and eventually got the ostler to unlock the door, when he saw about a dozen men huddled up together in one corner, each evidently trying not to be visible to the eye of the constable, from a conviction that they had not been there all the afternoon without anything to drink. But fortunately for the defendant the constable summoned a witness from among the concealed group, who swore that he and the whole of his companions had been locked in from the time service began, but he didn’t know by whom, and that the defendant had not supplied them with any drink. This evidence, which the constable could not then rebut, destroyed the proof of the case, and defendant was dismissed with a caution.

Maidstone Journal and Kentish Advertiser, Saturday 09 May 1857.

The license of the "Windmill Inn," Cranbrook, was transferred from Elizabeth Wimsett, deceased, to C. Waghorne, jun.

South Eastern Gazette, 23 October, 1860.

FRIDAY—FIRST COURT.

(Before Gathorns Hardy, Esq., Chairman).

Catherine Boyle, an Irish woman, for stealing a pair of sheets and some crockery ware, the property of Thomas Drury, landlord of the "White Horse Inn," Cranbrook, on the 8th October. Mr. Holloway was for the prosecution.

The prisoner had been lodging at the house, and the articles being missed after she had left a constable went in search of her, when she was found at the "Windmill" public house, about half a mile off, with the property in her possession.

Three months hard labour.

Maidstone Journal and Kentish Advertiser, Tuesday 6 January 1891.

TRANSFER OF LICENCES.

The licence of the "Windmill Inn," Cranbrook, was transferred from Alfred Ashdown to George Bligh.

Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser, Friday 3 February 1922.

The license of the "Windmill Inn," Cranbrook, was transferred to H. T. Goldsmith.

Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser, Friday 08 September 1939.

MOTORING OFFENCES.

Hugh MacDonald, of the "Windmill Inn," Cranbrook, pleaded guilty to driving a car in a built-up area on June 29 above the speed permissible.

P.C. McPherson said MacDonald was driving between 40 and 52 miles an hour.

Imposing a fine of 30s., the Chairman said:- "We have got to try and stop people rushing about like this."

Kent & Sussex Courier, Friday 6 June 1941.

CARS FOR SALE. 1932 AUSTIN 12/6 SALOON.

Excellent condition throughout; £50; trial by appointment.

McDonald, "Windmill Inn," Cranbrook.

Kent & Sussex Courier, Friday 18 August 1950.

Fatal fall from ladder in cellar.

Cranbrook licensee's tragic death.

A verdict of accidental death was recorded by the coroner (Mr. J. H. Soady) at the inquest on Wednesday on Mr. Ewan Henry Macdonald (67), licensee of the "Windmill Inn," Cranbrook, who died in Kent and Sussex Hospital following a fall.

Hugh Geoffrey Macdonald said that on the evening of August 4 his father went into the cellar to change over a barrel of beer and while standing on the ladder leading from the cellar to the bar he fell dragging with him a crate containing bottles of beer on the bar floor. He went to his father's assistance and the following day he was taken to hospital.

Dr. D. H. le Clus, house surgeon at Kent and Sussex Hospital, said Mr. Macdonald sustained a fracture of the skull, Bronchial pneumonia developed and caused his death.

Kent & Sussex Courier, Friday 8 July 1960.

Mrs. Ben Bishop, who were licences at Winchelsea for 8 years and have managed other pubs in Kent and Sussex, moved into the "Windmill Inn," Cranbrook, on Monday. They recently return to England from Rhodesia.

The pub closed in December 2006 and had changed into a restaurant called "Terracotta" by 2009, but unfortunately this too closed and was boarded up by 2016.

Latest information sent to me from John Mills says he passed by this pub/restaurant recently (2020) and parts of the walls remain but the majority has collapsed.