The Ship Inn
118 High Street, Dymchurch, Romney Marsh TN29 OLDTelephone: 01303 872122
Fax: 01303 872311
English Tourism Council 2 Diamonds
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History of The Ship Inn, Dymchurch The Ship Inn, Dymchurch dates back to the 16th Century when smuggling was rife and beer was cheap. You could not get a meal apart from soup and a roll if you were lucky. 
I have been asked why the pub was named the Ship. Well, unfortunately nobody has actually been able to give a reason. But maybe it was because the clientele of the Ship were all fishermen or even smugglers and the day to day operations of the area's workforce was in the English Channel.  Evidence of the Ship's involvement with smuggling is pretty obvious due to the holes that appear through the building, being discovered after years of concealment. The passageways behind the walls can be traced all through the building except where the new part of the building is now sited.   The Ship has it's own ghost. She has been named as the Grey Lady and keeps herself to herself except on the odd occasion when something unusuall might happen. One evening when I had gone to bed and I was just falling asleep when I heard a creaking of floorboards right outside my bedroom door. My bedroom was situated in the attic of the building facing the channel. I assumed it was my eldest daughter getting up to go to the toilet but I listened and realised that the noise was not going away. It sounded like someone was out there walking around in a circle as each floorboard creaked a differently. I stayed in bed until I worked up the courage to see what it was. As I opened the door the noise stopped and nothing was there. To this day I have not heard the same noise again. My bedroom is above one of the bed and breakfast rooms we use for letting and I assumed that being such an old building, people walking downstairs were causing the floorboards on our level to creak. A good theory but unfortunately we did not have any guests that particular evening. Completely unexplained. |
Dr Syn Alias The Scarecrow  During the latter part of the second world war and onwards, until 1972 when he died, there was a patron of the Ship called Russell Thorndyke. He is the man who put this village and area on the map by writing his books, Dr Syn.  In those books characters have been given names and events have been exaggerated, but if you read into them you will realise that they actually contain a lot of truth and the only things made up are the characters names. Every two years, the villagers of Dymchurch get together and put on a pageant, called appropriately, The Day of Syn. The day starts here at the Ship and goes on through the village and then up to the Wreck where there is a fete and many attractions. It is hard to comprehend that this hostelry has been providing ale and victuals for over 500 years and that successive innkeeping families have lived and worked under its roof experiencing births and deaths. Though little is known of their personal histories, they must have always extended a happy, hospitable friendliness because despite many structural and design changes the building retains an aura of warmth and cordiality. My mother and I firmly intend not only to ensure that this remains, but is enhanced, thus maintaining, 'You are a Stranger here but once'. The first recorded entry of the existence of a hostelry in Dymchurch, called 'The Ship Inn', is chronicled in a survey of the area produced in 1452. Account books of local administrators, dating from 1530, contain entries recording payments being made to the Ship Inn for meals and functions. The earliest existing magistrates licence is dated 1697. The subsequent yearly licences ran until 1852, when licensing powers were withdrawn from the Romney Marsh magistrates and centralised at the Folkestone court. These are stored together with the account books at the Kent County archives in Maidstone.
Many visitors are puzzled by the fact the 'The Ship' backs onto the main road instead of facing it. This is because the original road from Hythe came along the sea wall, ran down into the forecourt of the Ship and then back along the sea wall. In 1886 when it was decided a more direct route was needed the new road was sited at the rear of many building's, the Ship being one of them. Though its close proximity to the beach and the desolate Romney Marsh made it an ideal regular meeting place of the 18th and 19th century smugglers, there is no documentation to prove it as such. Many reports are hearsay which have been amplified by fiction leading to the Inn's notoriety. Nevertheless despite a lack of published evidence there must have been some sort of involvement because in many articles on 19th century Dymchurch, the Ship is referred to as the Smugglers Inn. |
Coroners court papers dated 1825 include statements taken from coastal blockademen (the forerunner of the coast guard) at the Ship Inn Dymchurch give wild accounts of the hardships and dangers of their work. In 1883 an elderly gentleman named E Dale stated in a local newspaper article - 'My uncle, father and grandfather were all smugglers. When my father expected anything in he would invite mounted officers down at Dymchurch into the Ship Inn to play cards and stand them drinks, he played for guinea points and took care to lose. While this was going on, the goods would be run all safe'. The existence of the hideaway and its associated tunnels do indicate involvement but there are no written reports of any landlord being charged with such offences or refused his licence for being involved with smuggling. Does this mean that their adroitness in duping the authorities was masterful or were those in authority also involved? In 1988 during the renovation of the lounge leading to the restaurant a hatchway was discovered behind a lathe and plaster wall. Behind this entrance is a void from which passages within the walls traverse the building, many terminating at the rear of cupboards. Unfortunately conversions have resulted in some of the passages being bricked up so it is not known whether there was a link with the cellar from which there was a tunnel into the adjacent church yard. The sliding panel concealing the entrance would have matched the panelling which formerly decorated the room making it undetectable to those unaware of its existence.  In 1252 realising the vulnerability of Romney Marsh to flooding and that action might be required, King Henry III granted a charter which virtually gave the right of self government. The administration of this right was placed in the hands of the twenty three Lords of the Manors of Romney Marsh. Their most important annual meetings was called 'The Grand Lathe', this being held on the Thursday after Whitsun was then followed by a feast. Although most of these powers of the Lords have been eroded by subsequent Government legislation the Lords still meet annually to hold the grand Lathe after which they proceed as they have done for the past 400 years to the Ship Inn restaurant for their feast (traditionally Romney Marsh Lamb and local vegetables). |
| The Grey Lady Many ask 'is the place haunted'? If people mean is there a headless spectre clanking around in chains, the answer is no! But for years there have been people who claim to have seen an apparition of a woman dressed in grey and others who say they have sensed being watched. Despite what the most ardent sceptic will say, the many accounts are too consistent to be entirely incredulous. So who is the Grey Lady. There is a vague story of a jilted woman who committed suicide in an upstairs room. The year, the century unknown and at the time of writing archives are being searched for local coroners court records which should record such a death. Until we discover who she is, don't worry - she appears friendly! |
| High Days and Holidays
During the late 1800's and early 1900's the weekends in the bar parlour was the scene of many rumbustious get togethers. The reason for this was that Hubert Bland, an eminent political idealist, had a holiday bungalow in the village and each weekend it was filled with established and up and coming literary and theatrical celebrities. The organiser and hostess of these weekends was his wife, Mrs Edith Bland, described as an audaciously unconventional lady, always dressed in billowing Bohemian style dresses, with many rows of long beads and jingling bangles, smoking incessantly from a long quill cigarette holder. Hardly the description one would expect of E Nesbit, authoress of many famed children's books, including 'The Railway Children' and 'The Phoenix Stories'! Among the regular visitors were the Chesterton brothers, H G Wells, Athene Seyler, Sybil and Russell Thorndike, E M Forster, Rudyard Kipling, George Bernard Shaw and Noel Coward. The popularity of these weekends is summed up by H G Wells - 'One rushed down from town at the weekend to snatch ones bed before anybody else got it.' Russell Thorndike 1865-1972 Russell Thorndike 1865-1972 Russell and his sister Sybil first came to Dymchurch as children, staying at the family holiday home. Both became famous actors but they never lost their love for the village and continued to spend their holidays there. Russell decided to reside here permanently and brought his family to live in a house adjacent to the sea wall. He subsequently became a regular of the Ship Inn, his son Daniel states he loved the pub where, when he was not working as an actor, he could be sure of an audience for his tall tales. We had the greatest difficulty getting him out of the place and home for lunch. He wasn't a great one for parties but he loved to rivet the cronies in the bar with a story when he could. His most well known creation was Dr Syn, by day the pious vicar of Dymchurch, by night the scarecrow terrifying leader of the smugglers. How many of his cronies ever realised they were to be immortalised by having been used as models for many of the characters in the books and subsequent films? |
| Day of Syn August bank holiday Monday 1963 was the first Day of Syn. Since then it has been held every two years. Dymchurch attempts to turn the clock back 200 years and bring to life the many characters from the Dr Syn books. From 10am the Ship car park, green and bars become an entertainment arena filled with scarlet coated dragons striped shirted sailors and 18th century entertainers who then dispersed throughout the village where you run the risk of being rounded up by the press gang measured up by Mr Mipps the undertaker, or cajoled into taking part in a traditional dance or scenario. 1.30pm heralds the arrival of the fearsome mounted leader, The Scarecrow, who leads the contraband laden gang through the village to the site of a mammoth fete where stalls and side shows raise funds for main charitable organisations. As you pass along the corridor beside the staircase in the Ship it is doubtful that you will notice anything unusual about the windows extending along the side, but if you look closely you will find a multitude of dated autographs scratched in the panes. The sighting of this phenomenon may appear odd but this is explained by the fact that the stair case is contemporary having been built on the site of part of the original bar parlour in which the glazed office window would have been a feature. The dated signatures span a hundred years. The earliest date is 1879. There is a block of names dated 1888 and possibly are those of men employed on the construction of the new road. Many autographs dated 1914 - 1916 are prefixed with army ranks some followed by the letters RNAS or Canada. Can you find a celebrity autograph others have missed? |
| A Story from a Present Patron Back in the 1930's or so when my father used to drink in the Ship he always said that from the church to the pub, on a Sunday after Church, no one could beat him to the bar. One particular Sunday, a high person of the church was there for the sermon with the vicar. At the end of the service, John, as we shall call him, was the first one out of the Church, as the vicar and his boss were seen walking into the vestry. John was in the pub before anyone else and there they were, the vicar and his boss, being served at the bar at 12.01 on a Sunday, before John had walked through the door of the Ship. How did they get there so quick? No one knows, but is the tunnel that was meant to link the pub and the church still a myth? |
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