Built by Queen Elizabeth I’s chancellor and the site of the invention of “bat and trap”, Ye Olde Beverlie is steeped in history.

Sir Roger Manwood, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, had the red-brick building constructed in St Stephen's Green, Canterbury, in 1570 as part of a set of almshouses.

It became a pub in about 1629 and was grade II-listed in 1949.

The baron also provided a significant sum for the foundation of a school in Sandwich, still running today as Sir Roger Manwood’s.

In 1942, The Sphere carried an article on landlord Frank Wood “who is unique amongst the publicans of Britain”.

A condition of the tenancy was that Mr Wood must also accept the office of parish clerk and sexton.

This meant he not only got the inn rent free, but he was also paid a penny a day for winding the church clock and 13 shillings and four pence a year for keeping Sir Roger’s tomb clean.

The pub’s large garden and courtyard was the setting for the first ever game of bat and trap, it is claimed, and is thought by some to have inspired the invention of cricket.

In the 1950s there were more than 30 teams in Canterbury.

The game involves a trap with a wooden bar mounted like a seesaw.

The ball is placed on one end and the bat then strikes the other, launching the ball into the air and the player aims to hit it between posts at the other end of the pitch, guarded by the opposing team.

They then throw the ball at a target propped on the trap.

Mr Wood said older players had given up the game due to the high price of beer, as bat and trap is “thirsty work”.

Ye Olde Beverlie is now run by Shepherd Neame and referred to as a gastro pub, serving Mexican and English cuisine.

Bat and trap is still played there to this day.

Pictures and information used with kind permission of Paul Skelton, of www.dover-kent.com.

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