Broadstairs is a small town with a population of about 22,000 situated at the extreme north-eastern corner of the Kent coast; It is under two hours journey by train from London and enjoys a reputation unique amongst seaside resorts. Even with the capital so close it has maintained an atmosphere quite different from the rest of seaside England.
A Brief History of the Town
Thanet was an island when the romans invaded Britain. They built forts at Richborough and Reculver to guard each end of the Wansum Channel which separated Thanet from the rest of Kent. Towards the end of the Roman occupation the Vikings were regular raiders, in AD449 Hengist landed at Pegwell Bay taking posession of Thanet and the rest of Kent, the visitors stayed and made there homes. In AD597 Augustine landed much more peacefully and founded his monastery in Canterbury. The Monks spread their faith to Thanet, building the church at Minster. In time the fishing village of Bradstow (anglo-saxon meaning a broad place) grew to become Broadstairs,
In the 16 and 17 hundreds ship-building was the biggest industry in Broadstairs. In 1538 the first pier and the York gate were built in order to aid and protect the ship yard in Harbour Street.
Built by George Culmer and originally called Flint Gate it was renamed after the Grand old Duke of York and extensively rebuild in 1795 by lord Henniker. The town's people helped provision the English fleet anchored off-shore in 1588 while they awaited the Spanish Armada. Later many large vessels were built for the Royal Navy and for merchant firms, until ship building ended in 1824.
The York Gate
The Pier In 1850 the town was presented with its first life boat the Mary White, a year later it was the first to carry out a rescue from the goodwin sands. A second boat the Culmer white was added soon after. Both boats were privately run until 1868 when the RNLI took command of them. The station finally closed in 1912 after 62 years of active service, 269 lives having been saved.
The Napoleonic wars and the danger of invasion brought the need for added security. St. Peter's church tower was equipped with a semaphore machine for signaling to the fleet and still claims the privilege of flying the white ensign. By this time Charles Dickens was a regular visitor and the town has many Dickensian connections. The arrival of the railways in 1863 brought more and more holiday-makers and the town grow quickly in the late part of the century. In response to this influx the Railway Hotel and the Railway Tavern were built in the late 1860s.
Some 350 or more years ago, the Wishing Well stood between two flint cottages, which together with those in Union Square made up the main dwellings of the small fishing hamlet of Bradstow. The inhabitants numbered less than 150, and were mainly employed in the Cod Fishing Industry with Iceland, a by-product of which was the making of Cod liver Oil. The Well served as a means of fresh water for half a century, until the two cottages were integrated into the present building. By the 1750s smuggling was a major industry. High import duties on tea, tobacco and spirits made it a profitable business. Caves and tunnels ran from the coast in land to sellers in the village.
The Well was used by smugglers to hide contraband. Smuggling had become so rife in this part of Kent. that the Prime Minister himself, William Pitt, took the drastic step of ordering the 13th Light Dragoons into Thanet to help the local Coastguards curb smuggling. in 1784 the dragoons were bileted at the Fig Tree Inn in Callis Court Road, and could often be seen strolling the coast in their buff and blue uniforms, mounted on horseback with drawn sabre. When the local smugglers saw them coming, they would place such smuggled goods as barrels of perfume, brandy and chests of tea (tea at this time was 16 shillings a pound, 8 shillings of which was tax) in water-tight stone jars and lower them into the Well, where contraband avoided detection on many occasions.
An extract from an article written in 1723 by Daniel Defoe gives an idea of the severity of the problem:-
"Bradstow is a small fishing hamlet of some 300 souls, of which 27 follow the occupation of fishing, the rest would seem to have no visible means of support! I am told that the area is a hot bed of smuggling. When I asked if this was so, the locals did give me the notion that if I persisted in this line of enquiry some serious injury might befall my person"
During renovation work to the present premises, the well was reopened, and found among the loose chalk, were four rotting brass-rimmed kegs of a type which were commonly used to hold spirits during the 19th century; two large cannon balls were also discovered, presumably used for weighting. The top of the well is new, but the inside is made up of the original chalk and granite blocks and faced with granite going to a depth if approximatly 30 feet from the rim.
All retrievable proceeds dropped into the Well go to Dorton House School.
Bleak House (formally Fort House) is one of the most prominent buildings in the town and can be seen here in the background behind the Tartar Frigate public house. Fort House was built in 1801 as a residence for the captain of the Fort which stood (part of it still stands) in front of the house. A later owner renamed it "Bleak House" as he claimed it to be the house in the novel, this is a fallacy as the one in the novel was located in Hertfordshire.
The Tartar Frigate takes it's name from the HMS Tartar, a naval ship built locally. In the 1860s it became the haunt of solders, fishermen and smugglers. However at the time the main smugglers rendezvous was the "Five Tons" located in Union Square, these old inns must have witness many wild nights in the days before licensing hours.
At the junction of Albion and harbour street you will find the Dolphin inn, This public house dates back to the 16th century and is today the main venue for live music in the town, and has recently had a large extension and second bar added.
In Dickens' time it was known as "ballards Hotel" after it's owner, a great friend of the novelist. The hotel is now owned by the Roger Family who are descended from Lewis Marchesi, master baker who settled of Broadstairs in 1884. He was also a founder member of the round table, originally setup in Norwich. See The Royal Albion Hotel
Moving on towards Ramsgate we come across the Jubilee Clock Tower (not shown) this was built in 1897 for Queen Victoria's jubilee. In 1949 a copper Viking ship weather-vane was made for the clock tower by C Hodson of the Reading Street garage to commemorate the landing of the viking ship Hugin at Broadstairs in that same year. In 1975 the tower was burnt down due to a electrical fault, but was rebuilt by apprentices at Thanet Technical Collage to commemorate Queen Elizebeth II's Silver Jubilee.
Crossing the bridge over Louisa Gap and passing the old grand hotel (now the Grand Mansions) which was built in 1882 for Mr John Butterfield you can enjoy a plesent walk along the cliff top to Dumpton Gap, along the way in the hours of darkness it is possible to see the lights from the lightships that mark the Goodwin sands, you will arrive at king George VI memorial park. The 13 acres of ground that go to make up this park were first purchased by Benjermin Bond Hopkins for the purpose of building himself a country seat.
In Roman times the land that the lighthouse now stands on was called Cantium, this was the old name given to Kent by the explorer Ptolemy about the year 150AD.
There has been a light on Kent's most easterly point since 1505. During the great sea battle against the Dutch in 1666 an observation post was setup on top of the lighthouse. In 1683 the original wooden structure burnt down and in 1691 a new lighthouse was built from which the present building dates.
In 1790 the original coal-fired light was replaced by a patent oil lamp with reflectors and a magnifying lens. In 1931 the light was converted to electricity and is equal to 175,000 candle-power from a 3.5 Kw 240v lamp. The light is recognised by a group flash 5 times every 20 seconds and is visible up to 20 miles away. In 1899 Guglielmo Marconi setup a wireless telegraphy station in a privet house at Foreness Point, Kingsgate. In 1903 the GPO took over the station and installed it in a wooden hut alongside the lighthouse where it remained until 1923 when it was moved to Rumfields. By the end of 1998 the lighthouse will be completely automated
Floral Activities
Broadstairs and St. Peters is proud of their hat-trick of wins in the southeast in bloom competition for '94 '95 and '96. For 1997 the town is excluded from the competition but is entered in the Premier Class for past winners only. This achievement is due to the hard work of the Council and all the inhabitants and traders of the town.
Dickens Week Festival 1997
1997 saw the diamond jubilee of this popular attraction. Linked to the festival will be the World Wide conference, an event not to be missed with international personalities in attendance.
Useful Telephone numbers
This page was created on Acorn/Risc OS Computers.
See also
Links to friends sites
The Town Today.
Map
I would like to thank David Walsh for supplying some of the pictures
Also on this site a page about Threads, A disturbing film from the days of the cold war about a nuclear attack on Sheffield.
The Mason family Web Site
Page design by Patrick Bean.
