Martin Latham, Waterstones manager, canterbury

Ghosts, pirates and explosive crockery all feature in a book on the very strange, discovers Nick Ames.

The bizarre side of the rich tapestry of Kent’s history and folklore is the subject of a new book by a writer who manages a haunted shop with exploding teapots.

Kent’s Strangest Tales is the title of the work by Martin Latham, who runs the Waterstones bookstore in St Margaret’s Street, Canterbury.

From Chaucer’s legendary tales of naughtiness to the meeting of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards at Dartford train station that led to the formation of The Rolling Stones, the book features an astonishing range of tales. Ghosts, castles, treasures, pirates, Britain’s oldest highway and the old ladies who tricked a Luftwaffe pilot by plying him with tea… they’re all in here.

One of the ghost stories focuses on the strange happenings in Latham’s own shop.

“The coffee shop in the store used to sell loose tea for pots – as opposed to just teabags,” he said. “Among its regular customers was an old lady who hated teabags and wouldn’t use them. She insisted on the loose tea. Well, one day she stopped coming and the opinion was that she had passed away.

“Soon after, strange things started happening to our teapots – always at the same table by the window. They would practically explode for no apparent reason, spilling the contents on to the floor. It would only happen to those with loose tea – you can still see the stains.

“Finally the shop switched to teabags and it seemed to stop. But on another occasion I watched as a big pile of plates fell off a counter one by one and smashed.”

Latham is responsible for another remarkable facet of the store.

“I had heard rumours from the shop’s previous staff that there were Roman remains under the floorboards, so I asked Canterbury Archaeological Trust if they would be interested in investigating.

“We managed to find the original Roman remains – complete with the underfloor heating system. Now it is all on show in our basement, which stocks history books.

“There is an earlier wall and the tiles of the hypocaust, as the Romans called their heating system. Behind the remains there is a large picture of what Canterbury would have looked like under the Roman Empire, with the city dominated by a massive amphitheatre which, it is thought, was used to stage both dramatic productions and gladiatorial contests.

“Waterstones didn’t know about it – in fact the first time they became really aware was when they tried to process the slip for £1,000 to cover the work which I had submitted. Now they are fine with it – as it has put the shop on the tourist trail.”

Another Canterbury story featured in the book tells of a little-known part of the cathedral.

“There’s a chapel in the grounds which holds a service in French once a month,” said Mr Latham. “They were originally for the city’s Huguenot population.

“But my personal favourite is the story of the phantom hitchhiker of Blue Bell Hill, who vanishes.”

Latham wrote his book because everyone loves a good mystery.

“Whether someone is a road-sweeper or a university professor, they can debate issues from popular culture and history,” he said.

“For instance, did King Henry VIII insist that Deal Castle was built in the shape of a Tudor rose?”

However, Latham was not able to get information on all the unusual tales he set out to recount.

“There was something I heard about Bluewater,” he said. “It’s about the site being more than just a quarry. I heard rumours there was something unusual about why it existed at all, something about explosions and the military.“Then there are the reports about big cats – even a black panther in the area of Bluewater.

“Another of the stories I couldn’t track down was the origin of the shingle spit – known as The Street – offshore from Whitstable. It doesn’t seem to obey any of the usual rules that govern longshore drift.”

n Kent’s Strangest Tales is published by Anova Books and available from Waterstones and online.