The Lord Nelson Hotel, Deal, Kent

The earliest important mention of Walmer was when Julius Caesar landed on the beach in 55 and 54 BC, so legend has it. Due to coastal reclamation, it would now be situated further inland from the location of the present beach.

Walmer Castle itself was built by King Henry VIII, circa 1540, as one of three fortresses along the East Kent coast, to repel would-be attacks from invading French and Spanish forces. In fact, the Castle was never under siege and, since 1708, has become the official residence of the Lord Wardens of the Cinque Ports, most notably the Duke of Wellington, Winston Churchill, HM the Queen Mother and its current incumbent, Admiral the Lord Boyce.

Horatio Nelson (1758-1805) died on board The Victory at Trafalgar. “England expects every man will do his duty”, he proclaimed as he galvanised his troops ready for the battle of Trafalgar. He had visited Deal in 1801 when he commented that “Deal must be the coldest place in England, most assuredly” and, no doubt, this pub was named in the great man’s honour. The Lord Nelson is the oldest pub in Walmer that still retains its original name. Interestingly, Lord Nelson has more pub names associated with him, either directly or indirectly (eg The Victory, The Trafalgar, The Emma Hamilton, etc) than any other individual in the whole of England.

At the beginning of the 19^th century, Walmer was a bustling, industrious and growing town, largely due to the presence of the many military barracks. (See below for more information).

William Bunce Simmonds became the first landlord of The Lord Nelson in 1801. In 1811, William Holton was in charge, followed swiftly by John Sturges in 1812, James Graves in 1815, Francis Scott in 1816 and James Coulder in 1819. By 1821, Thomas Ellen was licensee, succeeded by his wife, Sarah, who served until the 1840s. Around this time, Walmer Road was re-named The Strand, as shown on the 1841 census.

The house would have attracted a mix of customers, including the military, fishermen and local tradesmen.

John, and then William, Hookham ran the pub through the 1840s. Henry Marsh was installed as landlord by 1854, followed by Silas Ford in 1862 and John Hanbrook in 1866 who was resident when a serious fire gutted the building in 1870. It was then rebuilt as the house we see today.

Later landlords include Simon Willey in 1874, Henry Barrett in 1878, William Wellard in 1889 and N.S. Williams in 1898.

In June 1904, the East Kent Mercury reported that “The five-year old daughter of landlord, Charles Gladwell, was playing outside the public house when she was run over by a milk cart as she crossed the road and suffered severe grazing to her ear and face as the wheel passed over her”. Mr Gladwell left the premises in 1913.

Arthur White took over from Gladwell the same year but died shortly afterwards when the licence transferred to his wife in 1914.

A Mrs Phillips served throughout the 1920s, with an Arthur William White appearing in 1936 when the pub was known as The Lord Nelson Hotel.

The late 1940s to mid 1950s show an A. Harding at the helm, followed in the 1960s by the charmingly-named A.F. Jolly.

Later licensees include James Austen in 1972, Thomas Clift and Lesley Stapleton in 1985 and Christopher Lunn in 1994. The house is currently in the very capable hands of Richard and Bernadette Burnett.

Walmer was famous for its many military barracks, the North and the South Barracks (the former situated behind The Lord Nelson) being built around 1794. Probably the barracks’ most notable residents were the Royal Marines who were based in the town from 1861. At various times, the Marines included the Commandos and the Musicians, the latter being the last to depart the town for the new Marines’ base at Portsmouth in 1996. In 1989, an IRA bomb killed 11 Musicians from The Royal Marines School of Music in East Barracks. The bandstand on Walmer Green, in front of The Lord Nelson, commemorates the names of those who lost their lives and, every September, a band of Royal Marines’ Musicians returns to town to play there in their memory.

Neighbouring Deal was the first English soil onto which explorer, James Cook, set foot in 1771 after his initial voyage to Australia.

6 miles out to sea, beyond The Downs (the stretch of water nearest the beach), lie the notorious Goodwin Sands, stretching 12 miles long and 6 miles across at their widest points. Shakespeare described them as “the Shippe Swallower” and they are also known as “the Widower” because of the many thousands of vessels that have floundered on the ever-shifting sandbanks, which are usually submerged. However, when they do appear above sea level, waves breaking onto their banks can often be seen from the beach on the horizon, with the naked eye.

No story of Walmer and Deal can, of course, ever be complete without mentioning the notoriety of the local smuggling industry in the 1700s and early 1800s. Because of the close proximity to the Continent, Walmer and Deal were probably the most prestigious and notorious English towns connected to the free-trade. Many of the existing local Georgian cottages of smugglers and fishermen and grander homes of merchants and “respectable” townspeople and authority figures abound with secret cellars, tunnels, hidey-holes beneath the floorboards and behind cupboards and fireplaces, roof walkways, etc, etc, and various hidden contraband has been found over recent years during renovations. Almost everyone was involved in the industry, in one way or another!

Copyright: Steve Glover and Michael Rogers
January 2007