Sadler
Gate - The Bell Hotel
(Written
by Wayne Anthony & Richard Felix)
The Bell Hotel is one of the old coaching inns in Derby, and has managed
to retain much of its original appearance, although its apparent Tudor
timbering was not added until after World War One. It was built around
1680, for the Meynell family and is reputed to have various ghosts within.
Victorian lady in blue stands in one of the downstairs bars and vaporises in front of staff and customers alike. A poltergeist in another downstairs room has been known to throw items around, one barmaid being hit on the back of her head by a wooden coat hanger, but close inspection of the room revealed no one else present.
Upstairs in the Bell,
one of the rooms is haunted by the ghost of a serving girl who has been
seen on frequent occasions, dressed in 18th century clothing with a white
mob cap. The original story, that she was murdered by the Jacobites in
1745, has nothing to substantiate it, but she has been seen on two occasions
in connection with children. In the 1930s, the landlord had an asthmatic
son. One afternoon he heard him coughing and choking in his bedroom. The
boy's father ran upstairs and burst into the bedroom, to find a lady dressed
in 18th century costume bending his son over and patting him on the back.
As the boy's father took over, the mysterious figure simply vanished before
his eyes.
In the 1950s this same room was used as a nursery. One day the baby was
being changed by the landlady and mother of the child. The mother moved
away to get some nappy pins and cotton wool, and as she turned back, standing
over the baby, stooping as if to pick the child up, was the same figure
in the 18th century costume, complete with mob cap. The mother rushed
to pick her child up and as she did, the ghostly figure completely faded
away.
Perhaps the reason
that this ghost lingers here is that she died trying to protect her child,
or maybe even in childbirth. Perhaps she was not a servant at all, but
a dedicated nursery maid.
The Bell Hotel, Sadler
Gate
