The Lower Bell is a pub on the A229 Blue Bell Hill, between Chatham and Maidstone in Kent. It is located at the edge of the North Downs where the A229 meets the Pilgrims' Way. [1]
A pub has existed in the general area since around 1790, when the A229 was a turnpike road for coaches. [2] The map maker and artist Paul Sandby painted A Distant View of Maidstone, from Lower Bell Inn, Boxley Hill in 1802, which depicts a view of the town from the pub. [3] It is marked at its current location on a large-scale 1832 map of Kent. The current building was constructed in 1865. [2] [4]
The purpose of the bell was for travellers to warn others further up the hill of their presence, as the road was too narrow for two teams of coach and horses to pass each other. There was a corresponding pub at the top of the hill called The Upper Bell, which would ring in response. The Upper Bell was demolished in 2013. [5] [2]
The Lower Bell is cited as a location for a common ghost story, which originates from a fatal car accident involving a bride-to-be on the A229 outside the premises in November 1965. [6] [7] The typical story involves the apparition of a young woman attempting to hitch a lift outside the pub into the centre of Maidstone or another local village, who subsequently vanishes en route. A local journalist attempted to verify the story for the Maidstone Gazette in 1968, but was unable to find any suitable eyewitnesses after months of research. [8] [9] In 2015, on the fiftieth anniversary of the accident, a paranormal enthusiasts group met in the Lower Bell to discuss the various ghost stories. [6] A short film, entitled The Ghost of Blue Bell Hill, was shot around the premises. [10]
Live music is a regular feature at the Lower Bell. The pub runs a jam session every Monday. [11]
Maidstone is the largest town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it with Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river carried much of the town's trade as the centre of the agricultural county of Kent, known as the Garden of England. There is evidence of settlement in the area dating back before the Stone Age. The town, part of the borough of Maidstone, had an approximate population of 100,000 in 2019. Since World War II, the town's economy has shifted from heavy industry towards light industry and services.
The vanishing hitchhiker is an urban legend in which people travelling by vehicle, meet with or are accompanied by a hitchhiker who subsequently vanishes without explanation, often from a moving vehicle.
Kit's Coty is a small village on the slopes of Blue Bell Hill between Maidstone and Rochester in the English county of Kent. The population of the village is included in the civil parish of Aylesford.
Boxley is a village and civil parish in the Maidstone District of Kent, England.
The A229 is a major road running north–south through Kent from Rochester to Hawkhurst via Maidstone. It is a former Roman road that ran from Rochester to Hastings.
Blue Bell Hill is a chalk hill between Maidstone and Rochester in the English county of Kent. It overlooks the River Medway and is part of the North Downs. Settlements on the hill include the Walderslade suburb of Chatham and the villages of Blue Bell Hill and Kit's Coty. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries much of the hill was quarried for chalk.
Eccles is a village in the English county of Kent, part of the parish of Aylesford and in the valley of the River Medway.
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Burham Down is a 110-hectare (270-acre) nature reserve between Maidstone and Chatham in Kent. It is managed by the Kent Wildlife Trust. It is part of the Wouldham to Detling Escarpment Site of Special Scientific Interest and Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and the North Downs Woodlands Special Area of Conservation.
Grove Green is a suburban housing development, partially forming a part of Weavering village, near the town of Maidstone in Kent, England. The population of the development is included in the civil parish of Boxley. The estate is also near the village of Bearsted and is convenient for the M20 motorway making its homes keenly sought after by London commuters. For young people, there is a youth group, and Grove Green Scout Group.
Blue Bell Hill is a village in the Aylesford parish of the borough of Tonbridge and Malling in Kent, England. It is located halfway between Chatham and Maidstone and lies on top of Blue Bell Hill. The community significantly expanded with the developments of the Walderslade area in the post war years, creating several housing estates around the village.
Bretforton is a rural village in Worcestershire, England, 4.4 miles (7.1 km) east of Evesham, in the Vale of Evesham. It is the largest farming village near Evesham. At the 2001 census, Bretforton had a population of 1,023 in 428 households. The area of the parish is 2.83 square miles.
The Ringlestone Inn is an historic public house and restaurant, located in the Ringlestone hamlet near the village of Wormshill in Kent, England. Dating back to the reign of Henry VIII (1509–1547) the current Grade II listed building was constructed in 1533 and retains its original brick and flint walls and oak beams. The interior is unchanged since around 1732 and includes tables crafted from the timbers of an 18th-century Thames barge. An inscription on an ancient oak sideboard formerly found at the property reads: A Ryghte Joyouse and welcome greetynge too ye all, it is now located at Knole as it is inscribed with the names John Tufton, Earl of Thanet and Margaret Sackville of Knole.
Maidstone Corporation Transport was the operator of trams, trolleybuses and motorbuses in Maidstone, Kent from 1904 to 1974. The operations of Maidstone Corporation passed to Maidstone Borough Council Transport in reorganisation of local government in 1974, expanding the Borough boundaries.
Duddon is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Duddon and Burton, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is on the A51 road and is 8 kilometres (5 mi) east of the city of Chester. Local features include Duddon St. Peter's Church and St. Peter's Primary School. The church was erected in 1835 as a chapel of ease to the parish church at Tarvin. It was built in the early English style at a cost of £603 to the designs of William Railton. The civil parish absorbed Burton on 1 April 2015, and on 1 July 2017 the new parish was renamed to Duddon and Burton.
National Cycle Route 17 is part of the United Kingdom's National Cycle Network. It presently runs southwards from Rochester, via Maidstone to Ashford where it links with National Cycle Route 18.
The following is a list of reportedly haunted locations in the United Kingdom.
Wouldham to Detling Escarpment is a 311.2-hectare (769-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest which stretches from Wouldham to Detling, north of Maidstone in Kent. Part of it is a Geological Conservation Review site, and it is part of the North Downs Woodlands Special Area of Conservation and the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I and it includes three Kent Wildlife Trust nature reserves and a Local Nature Reserve,
Boxley Warren is a 83-hectare (210-acre) Local Nature Reserve north of Maidstone in Kent. It is privately owned and managed by Maidstone Borough Council. It is part of North Downs Woodlands Special Area of Conservation and Wouldham to Detling Escarpment Site of Special Scientific Interest
On 12 October 1992, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonated a bomb that had been planted in the gents' toilets at the Sussex Arms pub in Upper St Martins Lane near Long Acre, London, killing one person and injuring seven.