Bell Hotel, Sadlergate (c1680)
he 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.
pstairs 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.
n 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.
erhaps 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.To the Derby Index page
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The information on this page is supplied courtesy of Wayne Anthony (author) and Richard Felix (local historian).
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