The Pilot Inn is our world Famous Family run Pub-Restaurant, situated a stone’s throw (and there’s a lot of them around) from the sea, in the heart of the stunning Dungeness National Nature Reserve.
The engine and propellor, in the garden of The Pilot, is one of four Wright/Cyclone engines and propeller from a WW11, B17 Flying Fortress bomber (the same aircraft as The Memphis Belle). The artefact was accidentally snagged off Dungeness on the 18th of September 2017, by Joe Thomas and Tom Redshaw (local fishermen).
The isolation of Dungeness had proved an irresistible lure to smuggling gangs; the absence of prying eyes and wagging tongues meant that they could carry on their work undisturbed. In a single week of 1813 free-traders were knows to have landed 12,000 gallons of brandy here. Nor was this the first cargo of spirits to cross the coastline illegally at Dungeness; 180 years earlier the local smugglers lured aground a Spanish vessel, Alfresia. They murdered the crew and looted the cargo of spirits. The ship was used to build the original Pilot which stands in the same place to this day.
The Holy Stones of Dungeness
Hagstones are stones that have a hole running all the way through them, and are usually found in streams or rivers, and at the seashore, where running water has created the hole in the stone.
This may be one of the reasons why they are considered so powerful, as it is a common belief that magic cannot work on running water, and these stones have been holed by running water and so retain that influence of protecting from magic. A Hagstone Hagstones are also known as Holy Stones, Holey Stones, Ephialtes Stones, Wish Stones, Nightmare Stones and Witch Riding Stones.
OPENING TIMES
Monday to Saturday
Bar: 11am -10pm
Food: 12noon – 9pm
Sunday
Bar: 11am – 9pm
Food: 12noon – 8pm