The Railway Inn
Charles Dickens and Paddock Wood: A Ghost at the Inn?
The old Railway Inn ©
Dickens was a great lover of the Medway valley between Paddock Wood and Maidstone, and he used Paddock Wood station as the starting point for trips with friends he met from the train. It is known that the character, James Carker, from the novel, Dombey and Son, (1846-8) was run over by a train at Paddock Wood.
A branch line to Maidstone West opened in 1844 and the Maidstone Road Inn had been built during its construction.
The Inn was later known as the Railway Hotel and in more modern times the Hop Pocket.
Laurence Gadd writes of being stranded at Paddock Wood and as a result securing a room upstairs at the Railway Hotel where there was a communicating door to a second bedroom.
He fell asleep but awoke at dawn suddenly aware of changes in the room. The bed was now an ancient four poster with chintz hangings and the furniture antique.
In front of the communicating door there was a tall man with tight fitting nankeen or pale yellow / buff trousers and dark clothes. The face was a cadaverous colour with rows of glistening teeth and curled lips.
The door behind was still visible in every detail while they spoke.
The spectre told of arriving in 1848 from France and a journey from Folkstone to Paddock Wood. His intention was to travel by the branch line to a remote country village, possibly Yalding or any of the others, and his gloomy message continued “it matters not, I never reached it”.
As morning approached the man became more restless saying “the time is come it is my doom on this day to re enact the manner of my death”. He needed to leave to be ready on the station platform.
“ express comes through at four it don’t stop”
In the next moment the furniture reverted to the overnight appearance and the author was alone while a blackbird sang a greeting for the new day.
Adapted from Laurence Gadd in The Dickensian.
Charles Dickens granddaughter Dorothy lived and died in Paddock Wood.
Visitors can see her grave (78) in St Andrews Old Closed Churchyard Church Road Paddock Wood.
Heritage Paddock Wood 2021
The Old Railway Hotel ©
There is some confusion over the original name and date of the first building on this site.
The first reference to this as a business is in the 1891 local directory where it is listed as the Railway Hotel however there is evidence that it pre-dates the opening of the opening of the station in 1842 when it was known as Maidstone Road Inn.
The 1843 Tithe Apportionment map for the area shows plot 38 as the Railway Hotel and according to the 1868 Ordinance Survey Map it was known as the Railway Inn but reverted back to the Railway Hotel in 1897. Jack Walker (Beginnings & Bygones) describes the hotel as being used by people travelling by road or rail, having its frontage on the Brandbridges Turnpike. A further reference can be found in Bagshaw’s Gazetteer of 1847 under the name of the Maidstone Road Inn. This variation in name could well be down to the fact that the station itself was originally called Maidstone Halt and then changed to Paddock Wood in 1844.
It continued as the Railway Hotel until January 1944 when a German Junkers 88 was shot down by a night fighter. It crashed close to the hotel and the resulting explosion destroyed the building. In 1955 a new building was constructed on the same site, using the original cellars and was called the Hop Pocket. Sadly in 2006 the business went into receivership and finally closed in 2007 by which time it was known as the Hop Inn.
The building was later demolished and the site redeveloped.