Shepherdswell

Shepherdswell
St Andrew's Church, Shepherdswell
OS grid reference	TR259480
District	Dover
Shire county	Kent
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Dover
Postcode district	CT15
Dialling code	01304
Police	Kent
Fire	Kent
Ambulance	South East Coast
UK Parliament	Dover

Shepherdswell (also Sibertswold) is a village in Kent, England, UK. It is notable for the East Kent Railway, whose terminus is sited there. This was originally one of Colonel Stephens' lines and ran to Wingham. The section as far as Eythorne is now run by a preservation society. The village social life centres around the local Grade I listed church 'Church of St Pancras', and the village hall, which is host to a number of events including regular charity jumble sales and a pre-school playgroup.

Currently the village has a thriving "pub" scene with two very different establishments. The Grade II listed Bell by the village green, near to the church and the (also grade II listed) Bricklayers Arms along Eythorne Road. Part of the Shepherd Neame Brewery franchise. Additionally the village has a mini-supermarket and Post Office.

The town is also on the Miner's Way Trail. The trail links up the coalfield parishes of East Kent. In the town it also links with the North Downs Way, which also passes through the town between Whitfield and Woolage Village.

Sport

Shepherdswell is also home the "Shepherdswell Spartans Football Club". Football has been played in the village of Shepherdswell for at least 98 years. Originally the team was called Shepherdswell FC and played from about 1908 until 1965; the name of the next major club in the village was the Whitehall Spartans, who played for most of the 1970s; they would become responsible for the name of today's current team. In 1983–84, a team managed by Jim Osborne was formed again and named after their then sponsors A1 Taxis which entered the Dover District Sunday League. By the start of the next season their name had reverted to something more recognisable as the main team in the village – Shepherdswell Spartans was born. They took the name Spartans from the local pub The Whitehall Inn which was their social base until the pub was shut down in 1989. Today the team is still going strong and has their social base as The Bricklayers Arms where they can be found on a Sunday afternoon either toasting their victories or drowning their sorrows in defeat.

As well as a Sunday League football team, Shepherdswell is home to a cricket team known simply as "Shepherdswell C.C." The team plays "friendly" village fixtures from May to September each year against other teams from all over the county of Kent.

Both the football and cricket teams can be seen playing on the picturesque Shepherdswell Recreation Ground ("The Rec'") and during the months of August and September sports fans will be able to watch football in the morning (10:30 am kick-off) followed by cricket in the afternoon (13:30 pm start).

External links

Media related to Shepherdswell at Wikimedia Commons http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63577 http://www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Shepherdswell http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Libr/VisRec/S/SIB/Gallery.htm