Old Town History, Margate in Kent, England
18th & 19th Century Buildings of Interest at Margate, Isle of Thanet
Aug 6, 2009
Margate was England's first commercial sea bathing resort and has been a busy, popular destination for tourists and day trippers for almost 300 years.
Travel London to Margate
It is within two hours to London by car or train. London to Margate by sea, sailing along the Thames estury, used to take days but in the early nineteenth century this journey time was reduced to about 7 or 8 hours by steam paddle ship.
Margate's Historic Old Town
The old town is centred around the old Town Hall in the Market Place and is adjacent to the harbour. In recent years The Town Hall has been open to the public as a fascinating museum of Margate History with a rich collection of seaside memorabilia, art and photographs. The ground floor of the Town Hall had been a small prison and was preserved as such in the museum. The museum closed early in 2009 due to lack of funding, the future use of the building is uncertain but it is hoped funding and management will be found to reopen the museum.
The Tudor House on King Street was thought to be originally a manor house, when a substantial creek ran along King Street. In about 1815 it was coverted into 3 cottages. It was in very poor condition when bought by the Corporation of Margate in 1938. It was restored as one house in the 1950's and used as a museum, though it is only occasionally open to the public.
The Shell Grotto lies further to the east, beyond the Tudor House towards Cliftonville. It is a mysterious underground system of caves and tunnels which are completely decorated in shells. Why or when it was created is unknown but it seems to have been discovered in the 1830's. It is still open to the public and quite fascinating.
Anyone who enjoys history and old architecture will enjoy exploring the narrow old streets of Margate's Old Town. There are a number of blue plaques and notice boards explaining the local history of specific buildings.
History of Creativity in Margate's Old Town
Margate's Theatre Royal is one of the oldest provincial theatres and is still staging shows today, originally built in 1786.
J.M.W. Turner lodged in Margate on Bankside for many years in the first half of the nineteenth century. The house in which he lived is no longer there but The Ship Inn approximately occupies the spot. Turner is famous for his paintings of the sea. Margate is known for its spectacular sunsets.
Barham wrote his famous Ingoldsby legends in a property which still stands on the Parade, near the foot of the High Street. This area is now the modern piazza, where local restaurants and cafe's offer alfresco eating on warm days and through the summer months there is often live music (especially coinciding with special events).
There is a revival of artist interest in the area, most notably led by the construction of a new major art gallery, The Turner Contemporary which is being constructed next to Droit House and is due to open in 2011. The Margate has hosted a number of art exhibitions in recent years and many of the buildings around the Old Town are in some way related to creative arts.
Margate's Harbour, Pier, Jetty and Droit House
Droit House stands at the entrance to the pier, it was first built in 1812 for the collection of tolls. It was destroyed in the war and rebuilt in 1947 and is now home to the Tuner Contemporary.
Margate has had a harbour since the thirteenth century. The harbour is shallow and at low tide what few boats are there are left high and dry. Today the harbour is little used and stilled up.
The Harbour wall is called Margate Pier, constructed 1810-15, in the twenty first century it has been given a face lift and is the home to a cafe.
A wooden Jetty was constructed in the nineteenth century, opened 1855 with an extension completed in 1877. The Jetty replaced the Jarvis landing place built in 1824 to the east of the harbour wall, so that boats which could not access the shall waters of the harbour could unload passengers. It was this Jetty that was the link for most of the traffic arriving in Margate by sea, including steam ships which travelled the estuary bringing holiday makers to and from London. The Jetty was finally closed to the public for safety reasons in 1974 and almost completely destroyed by a storm in 1978.
Large sea fairing vessels still find shelter in the relatively calm waters off Margate when there are storms further out in the North Sea or the English Channel.
Margate's Royal Sea Bathing Hospital on Canterbury Road, Westbrook
In 1791 the Sea Bathing Hospital was the countries first specialist hospital which based treatment on salt water baths and sea air.
This is not in the old town, when it was built this area was outside of Margate and surrounded largely by fields. It was 90 years later, in the1880s, that Marine Drive was created to link the Harbour with the Westbrook area, home to the new Victorian Margate railway station.
The Sea Bathing Hospital was in disrepair and up for sale for many years. It is currently partially transformed into luxury residential apartments.
Hotels in Margate
One can still stay in places with history and character in Margate: The Walpole Bay Hotel, Smith & Palm Court Hotels, The Nayland Rock Hotel are all old Hotels with charm, character and history.
Sources:
Barker, Negel, et al (2007) "Margate's Seaside Heritage", English Heritage, Swindon U.K.
Clark, George E (1975) "Historic Margate", Second Edition, Margate Public Libraries, Kent U.K.
Easdown, Martin (2007) "Piers of Kent", Tempus Publishing, Gloucestershire U.K.
Kay, Alan & Kay, Ian (1998) "Then & Now Margate", Tempus Publishing, Gloucestershire, U.K.
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