On 1st June 1799 the gang leader Shadwell was shot by an army deserter at the inn. His associates persued the deserter and his companion and duly beat them to death. Jeremiah Shadwell may have been involved in the incident which would explain why he left the inn so suddenly for by the end of June 1799, one John Micklefield was keeping the house and did so all over the first quarter of the 19th century.
Colonel Shadwell has a memorial in Maidstone church and the original plaque on this wall is in Maidstone Museum.