HAUNTED HOSTELRIES

**HISTORY"
Linton is a village and civil parish in the Maidstone District. The name comes from the Old English word “tun,” meaning village, town, or farmstead, which suggests it was once ‘Lilla’s farm’. The earliest recorded name was Lilintuna around 1100, followed by Lillington in 1226, Lintone in 1327, and Lynton or Lylyngton in 1535. Today, about 500 people live here. The village is known for its rich heritage, beautiful views, historic buildings, and strong community spirit.
Linton Park is a Grade I listed mansion located east of the village. Robert Mann built it in 1730, and it later became home to Sir Horatio Mann, the fourth and fifth Earls Cornwallis, and Fiennes Cornwallis, the first Baron Cornwallis. During the late 1700s and early 1800s, it served as the headquarters for the army camp at nearby Coxheath.
Linton was not listed in the Domesday Book of 1086, but it belonged to the Manor of East Farleigh. The land was owned by the crown until 1314, when Archbishop Walter Reynolds gave it to a hospital for poor travellers in Maidstone’s West borough. Records show the owners of the patronage up to around 1728, when Robert Mann, a wealthy clothier from Linton Place, bought it.
In 1610, Sir Anthony Mayne of Linton Place built and funded five historic one-bedroom almshouses for four poor estate workers’ families and widows of good character. Robert Mann rebuilt them in 1749, adding the unique gables and finials, while he was also rebuilding Linton Park House. Today, a board of trustees still manages the almshouses, renting them to people with ties to Linton.
The Bull Inn sits high on the south slope of Greensand Ridge, offering great views and sunsets over the Weald. It stands across from the church and other historic buildings.
It was built in 1383 during the reign of Richard II and formed part of the estate of Stephen Rookehurst, esq. 
When Rookehurst died in 1442, his nephew Reginald of London inherited the property. 
In 1464, Reginald sold the property to Thomas Quinney, a wine merchant and maltman of London.
Quinney set up a brewery here between 1464 and 1492, as indicated by a 1492 document mentioning a malthouse. 
Thomas Quinney died in 1504 and left his property to his son Cedric. Cedric owned the property until 1513 when he sold it to Jacob Swift. 
In 1518, Swift was granted a licence to sell ale. He named these premises the "Bull."
Jacob Swift owned it until his death in 1572. Josias, his son, held it until 1611, when he sold it to Thomas Jenkin of Ashford. The sale included: 1 tenement with outbuildings, a stable, a malthouse, a brewhouse, and a butchery.
After looting the Baron, Sir John Mayney’s home, Cromwell's soldiers sought refreshment and rest at the "Bull" in 1651. Jack Sculley was the keeper who served them ale.
In late 1673 and early 1674, the "Bull" underwent several changes. The thatched roof was replaced with tiles, chimney stacks were added, and some of the wattle and daub walls were rebuilt with bricks. A new stable block was also built to house more travellers. When the work was done, builder Amos Goad marked the front of the building with his initials and the date A.G.1674.
The Jenkin family owned the "Bull" for over a century, brewing their own ale here and employing innkeepers to maintain the establishment. 
In the 1700s, the ‘Bull’ became a popular stop because of improved roads and the rise of coach travel. Fresh horses were kept at the inn to help pull coaches up the hill, and a stable boy would bring them back down. The inn also became the local posting house. Many innkeepers during this time and later worked as carriers for the parish.
On 23rd August 1782, in the 13th year of the reign of his majesty King George the third,  the Toll gate properties in the surrounding areas were put up for let by auction to the best bidder at the house of George Tupper, known by the sign of the bull in Linton.
In 1797, the “Bull" was in the hands of the executors of the Jenkin Estate, and it was sold to Richard Somerby of Tonbridge in 1802.  
Joseph George, a keeper during the Napoleonic Wars (1803 to 1815), served as a messenger for the Rothschild family.
In the Maidstone Journal and Kentish Advertiser - Tuesday 03 April 1810, the inn was advertised for let by private contract, along with seven acres of land. 
Then an advert appeared in the Kentish Gazette - Friday 16 April 1813:
To be sold by Auction by T. W. Carter on Thursday, May 20 1813, at the Bell Inn, Maidstone, at Four o'clock, in one lot— All that truly desirable and well accustomed FREEHOLD PUBLIC HOUSE, The Bull Inn, remarkably well situated Linton,on the Turnpike Road side, being the principal communication between the Weald Kent, Sussex, and Maidstone; the traffic between which being very considerable, creates a steady and profitable trade the house, which is very roomy and well adapted to the business, has remarkable large and good cellaring and storage; garden, yard, and two large stables; oasthouse and Acres, or thereabouts, of productive Arable and Hop Ground, in the occupation of Mr. R. Foster, tenant at will, who has had notice to quit at Michaelmas next. Also, all those Messuages and Shop adjoining the above, under one roof, now late in the several occupations Messrs. Tomlyn, West, and Tomkyn, tenants at will. Also, TWO DWELLING HOUSES, Butcher’s Shop, Slaughter-house, Stable, and Blacksmith’s Forge, adjoining the before-mentioned premises, in the occupations of Mr Dann and Mr Thornycraft, tenants at will. The rents of the whole above Property amount to £102. 12s. per annum. This property is very desirable for a Brewer and for anyone seeking a good situation in the public line, and may be considered a good investment. From its advantageous situation, it is certain to let well. This Estate may be viewed by application to the tenants, and printed particulars and conditions of sale may be had at the Bull, Linton; and of the Auctioneer, Stone-street, Maidstone, where a plan of the Estate may be seen. 
Shepherd Neame may have taken over around this time. In the 1800s, brewing ale at the inn stopped, and the old butchery was eventually turned into part of the Malthouse.
In April 1837, an inquest was held at the inn on an infant of Mr Cork, a tailor in Linton. The father had accidentally smothered the child in a turned-up bedstead.
On the evening of 30th November 1841, Mr Corke was walking past the inn and fell down the open cellar shutter, which had been neglectfully left open. It wasn't fatal, but he seriously injured his back and was unable to attend to his business. A warning was put out to beer houses that they would be held responsible at a high cost.
On 11th January 1855, another inquest was held before Coroner Mr J N Dudlow Esq at the inn on 24-year-old Charles Down, who worked at the Baker and grocer shop run by Mr Thompsett and had drunk some poison on the Tuesday, 9th. The witness was Mr Thompsett's son, Benjamin, age 15, who slept in the same room as the deceased. He saw him mix the poison and fill a bottle on Monday night. They went to work the next day to open the shop. The boy then heard groaning and went into the bakehouse to see Charles being violently sick. He asked if he should call his mother, and Charles said no, get William Kelly from the Blacksmiths. Kelly had told him to take a gin full, but Charles had drunk half the wine bottle. Kelly told him to get some air and left. Charles was put in a chair in the yard, but died 5 minutes later. It appeared he had given him the corrosive sublimate, made from mercury, the most deadly and uncontrollable poison they had. He was suffering from a dis-ease, which Blacksmiths and Farriars had taken to giving this medicine for. The coroner said that if the evidence had proved the quantity recommended caused the death, then Kelly would be up for manslaughter, but it seemed that Charles had inflicted his death himself. Kelly was taken before the coroner, reprimanded and warned against giving this medicine to anyone else. 
The inn was also a gathering place for local business and social events. Auctions were held there, and after the church service across the road, people celebrated the annual hop and harvest thanksgiving dinners at the inn.
In October 1879, another inquest at the Inn. A young girl named Gates, who was working for the Butchers in Linton, was found drowned in the river by Stiles Bridge on the Staplehurst Road. Verdict: Temporary Insanity.  On further research, I found her name was Alice Gates, aged 16, from Loose, Kent. Her father, Robert Gates, was committed to Barming Lunatic Asylum in 1873 and died there in 1891, and her mother died in December 1875; they buried her on 1st January at Staplehurst. She had 6 younger siblings who, in the 1881 census, were living in the East Farleigh Workhouse, so being age 13 when her mother died, she would have ended up there herself. Workhouses were harsh places for children, especially orphans. She may have been apprenticed out to the butchers when she was old enough, and it seems she couldn't cope and so took her own life. She was buried with her mother at Staplehurst.
In February 1888, the Landlord William Russell, age 53, had kept the Bull Inn for 10 years and was on bail and in court for unlawfully and maliciously shooting at Edgar Gower and Robert Carter with intent to do GBH on the 5th November last. Fireworks were being set off, and he had got annoyed when they went off in the house, damaging his furniture. On going out to close his shutters, more fireworks were fired at them, so he got his gun and leaned it against the wall, whilst he continued closing the shutters. A squib (small firework) was thrown at him, so he took up his gun and fired it in the direction from which it came. Gower and Carter were 35 yards from him, and it hit them, although it didn't cause any injury. Both men denied setting any off. When the police questioned Russel and told him who was shot, he was sorry, calling them ‘straightforward young fellows’. He fired into the air merely to scare the culprits off. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty almost immediately, and Russell was discharged. 
In August 1897, another sad inquest. 3-year-old Gerald, the son of James Gilham, a butler for Fiennes Stanley Wykeham Cornwallis at Linton Park, fell into a pond near the South Lodge on the estate, which was shallow, so it wasn't deemed dangerous, and it wasn't fenced off. James had gone to Scotland on Friday and came back on Saturday to find his son dead. Gerald had been playing with his 7-year-old brother James and another boy, and they were trying to get apples that had fallen into the pond. Gerald fell in. Mrs Tolhurst, who lived nearby, was called by her daughter, and she pulled him out from the middle of the pond with a pole. The doctor was called and tried to resuscitate, but by then it was too late. Verdict: Accidental death 
In 1900, another inquest at the inn. At Linton Park on June 28th, James Pierce, age 35, fell 40 ft off a ladder, which had broken as he was ascending onto the roof, and died. The doctor concluded he died from shock and his internal injuries. He also had a broken back. He had been in the Employment of MP Cornwallis for about 15 years and left behind a widow and 2 young children. Verdict: Accidental Death.
In January 1918, Mr & Mrs West received the sad news that their son, Private William West, died on 30th December 1917. He joined the Royal West Kent Regiment a few weeks after the war started, and was posted to Mesopotamia in November 1915. He took part in the relief of Kut and many other battles but died of smallpox at Basra Hospital, Mesopotamia, at the age of 29. Another 25 men from Linton, Kent, died in WW1 and are remembered on the village memorial and in the church.

In March 1918, William West gave up his license at the Inn.
The building was listed at Grade II in May 1967.
During the 1969 New Zealand test cricket tour, many of the players stayed at the Bull Inn. In 1973, their top test cricketer and world-class wicket keeper, Ken Wadsworth, stayed there again when he married fellow New Zealander Wendy Blackmore at the Maidstone registry office. Jack and Dorothy Williams, who ran the inn, had become close friends with the couple since 1969. Sadly, on 19 August 1976, Ken died from a sudden and aggressive melanoma at just 29 years old. He had played his last match only five months earlier in Canterbury, New Zealand. Jack, Dorothy, and many in the village were deeply saddened by the news, as Ken had made many friends during his visits. They sent a wreath for his funeral and held a memorial at the inn, raising a toast in his honor.
In 1985, Maidstone Council received an application to change the use of the former post office and make internal changes to create a dining area and kitchen. The council planners reviewed the application on March 7. Today, this space is part of the Bull’s restaurant, with signs naming the different areas on the archway beams. The bar is cozy, with heavy beams, leather settees, and wooden tables.
Kim and Robert Garrett managed the inn from 2008, and in 2023, their daughter Natalie Alden, now 39, took over. She has been part of the pub world since she was seven and is well known in both the village and the pub.
FOR A LIST OF OTHER PEOPLE INVOLVED IN THE BUILDING OVER THE YEARS NOT MENTIONED, i.e., LICENSEES, PROPRIETORS, RESIDENTS & INQUESTS, PLEASE GET IN TOUCH