Broadstairs

Broadstairs

Viking Bay, Broadstairs
Broadstairs
 Broadstairs shown within Kent
Population 24,903 (Broadstairs and St Peter's parish 2011)[1]
OS grid referenceTR395675
   – London  81.6 miles (131.3 km) 
Civil parishBroadstairs and St Peter's
DistrictThanet
Shire countyKent
RegionSouth East
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town Broadstairs
Postcode district CT10
Dialling code 01843
Police Kent
Fire Kent
Ambulance South East Coast
EU Parliament South East England
UK ParliamentSouth Thanet
List of places
UK
England
Kent

Coordinates: 51°21′32″N 1°26′22″E / 51.35888°N 1.43944°E / 51.35888; 1.43944

Broadstairs is a coastal town on the Isle of Thanet in the Thanet district of east Kent, England, about 80 miles (130 km) east of London. It is part of the civil parish of Broadstairs and St Peter's, which includes St Peter's and had a population in 2011 of about 25,000. Situated between Margate and Ramsgate, Broadstairs is one of Thanet's seaside resorts, known as the "Jewel in Thanet's crown". The town's crest motto is Stella Maris ("Star of the Sea"). The name derives from a former flight of steps in the chalk cliff, which led from the sands up to the 11th-century shrine of St Mary on the cliff's summit.

The town spreads from Haine Road in the west to Kingsgate (named after the landing of King Charles II in 1683) a hamlet in St Peter parish[2] in the north and to Dumpton in the south (named after the yeoman Dudeman who farmed there in the 13th century). The hamlet of Reading (formerly Reden or Redyng) Street was established by Flemish refugees in the 17th century.

History

Before 1400

The inland village of St Peter's was established after the building of a parish church in about 1080. The coastal confederation of Cinque Ports during its mediæval period consisted of a confederation of 42 towns and villages in all. This included St Peter's, as a 'limb' of Dover.[3] On the nearby coast was a cliff-top shrine, the Shrine of Our Lady, at what was then called Bradstow(e), meaning "broad place" (perhaps referring to the wide bay).[4] A fishing settlement developed in the vicinity of the shrine in the 14th century. This came to be called "Broadstairs", after a flight of steps which was made in the cliff to give access to the shrine from the bay. Older forms of the name include Brodsteyr Lynch (1434 & 1494 [5]), Brodestyr (1479), Broadstayer (1565) and Brod stayrs (1610).[6] Charles Culmer, son of Waldemar, is supposed to have reconstructed the stairs in 1350.

St Mary's chapel on town street
St Mary's chapel was built on the site of the shrine.

1400-1600

In 1440, an archway was built by George Culmer across a track leading down to the sea, where the first wooden pier or jetty was built in 1460. A more enduring structure was to replace this in 1538, when the road leading to the seafront, known as Harbour Street, was cut into the rough chalk ground on which Broadstairs is built, by another George Culmer. Going further in defence of the town, he built the York Gate in 1540, a portal that still spans Harbour Street and which then held two heavy wooden doors that could be closed in times of threat from the sea. Richard Culmer was the son of Sir Richard Culmer by his first wife and was born in 1640/41. Richard was buried in the parish church of Monkton, on the Isle of Thanet. Of his legacies was the endowment on Broadstairs of an area of six acres (24,000 m²) of ground for the poor of the parish. The name survives to this day as "Culmer's Allotment" as does the allotment.

1700-1815

In 1823, Broadstairs had a population of about 300.[7] A brief outline of the history of Broadstairs Pier is given in Broadstairs, past and present, which mentions a storm in 1767, during which Culmer's work was all but destroyed. At this time, it was of considerable importance to the fishing trade with catches as far afield as Great Yarmouth, Hastings, Folkestone, Dover and Torbay and elsewhere being landed. It had become so indispensable that the corporations of Yarmouth, Dover, Hythe and Canterbury with assistance from the East India Company and Trinity House subscribed to its restoration with a payment of £2,000 in 1774.

By 1795, York Gate needed repair to repel any threat from the French Revolutionary Wars. The subsequent renovation was undertaken by Lord Hanniker in the same year as the first lightvessel was placed on the Goodwin Sands.

On the occasion of the landing at Thanet of Major Henry Percy of the 14th Dragoon Guards, on 21 June 1815 with the captured French eagle standard taken at Waterloo, a tunnel stairway from the beach to the fields on the cliff tops above was excavated, and christened "Waterloo Stairs" to commemorate the event. Broadstairs was supposedly the first town in England to learn of this historic victory, although there is no written evidence of this.

Smuggling was an important industry in the area, and the men of Broadstairs and St Peter's became very good at outwitting customs agents. This was very profitable because of the very high duty payable on tea, spirits and tobacco. There is a network of tunnels and caves strewn in the chalk strata which were used by smugglers to hide their contraband.

Development as a seaside resort

Beach crowd along Joss Bay seashore, in Broadstairs during July.
Joss Bay in July 2008

By 1824 steamboats were becoming more common, having begun to make over from the hoys and sailing packets about 1814. These made trade with London much faster. The familiar sailing hoys took anything up to 72 hours to reach Margate from London, whereas the new steamships were capable of making at least nine voyages in this time. Mixed feelings must have been strongly expressed by the Thanet boatmen in general, as the unrivalled speed of the steam packet was outmanoeuvring all other classes of vessel, but it brought a new prosperity to Thanet. In the middle of the 19th century, the professional classes began to move in. By 1850, the population had reached about 3,000, doubling over the previous 50 years. Due to the fresh sea air, many convalescent homes for children opened towards the end of the 19th century.[7]

Railways

Although numerous holidaymakers were attracted to Broadstairs and to other Thanet seaside towns during the Victorian era, it was not directly served by the railways until 1863. This was a time of great expansion for railways in the South East; in 1860 Victoria Station had been completed, followed by Charing Cross and Cannon Street. Rail access to Broadstairs had previously relied heavily upon coach links to other railway stations in the district or region; with firms such as Bradstowe Coachmasters, operated by William Sackett and John Derby, principally involved. Their coaches connected Broadstairs to Whitstable station where a railway service had begun as early as 1830 (one of the first in England, with its pioneering Stephenson's engine Invicta). By 1851, the region's network was still more complete, being supplemented by the London to south coast route, including the coastal link from Chichester to Ramsgate, the cross-country service between London and Dover and the Mid-Kent line that linked Redhill, Tonbridge and Ashford to London's first Eurostar terminal at Waterloo (opened in 1848). Broadstairs station (unlike neighbouring Margate) is a 10-minute walk from the beach. Although rebuilt in the 1920s, electricity was not installed at the station until well into the 1970s, and the buildings and platforms remained illuminated by gaslight until then.

Since 2009 Southeastern have been operating a high speed train service between London St Pancras and Ashford International which runs on to Broadstairs cutting about 40 minutes from what was once a two-hour journey to other termini in London.

1840-1900

In 1841, 44 mariners were recorded as resident in Broadstairs; nine of these being specified as fishermen, and of course the residual boat-building activity that remained after the Culmer White yard closed in 1824 (under pressure from the steamships), still continued (though there were only four shipwrights recorded in the census: Solomon Holbourn and Joseph Jarman among them). Others may have been at sea on census day: Steamer Point, as the pier head at Broadstairs was then known, would have been fairly busy with shipping movements since consignments of coal and other produce would have been traded along the coast and there would have been regular work on the steam packet to and from Ramsgate. By the 1840s, the smuggling had ceased.[7]

Present

By 1910, the population had reached about 10,000. A "guide book" of the 1930s by A.H. Simison (the photographic chemist) entitled Ramsgate (The Kent Coast at its best) Pictorially Presented, describes Broadstairs town as having approached modernisation and urban development "always with a consistent policy of retaining those characteristics for which it has for so long been renowned". The town has retained a great many aspects of historical interest, besides its maritime history. Amongst these is its notable religious history, evoked by places such as the Shrine of Our Lady, Bradstowe.

Today Broadstairs is a magnet for visitors year after year and has been likened to a "Cornish fishing town".

Lifeboats

Lifeboats arrived in Broadstairs in 1851. News of the loss of the Irish packet Royal Adelaide with 250 lives, on the sands off Margate on 6 April 1850, may have been the prompt that led old Thomas White to present one of his lifeboats to his home town of Broadstairs that summer. The lifeboat saw its first use on 6 March 1851, when the brig Mary White became trapped on the Goodwin Sands during a severe gale blowing from the north. A ballad was written to celebrate the occasion, "Song of the Mary White".

Solomon Holbourn, coxswain of the Mary White of Broadstairs had an aunt, Sophia who married at Folkestone in 1813 to William Stevenson. His eldest son William became a mariner and boatman, and married an Elizabeth Wellard in 1839 at St Peter's, Broadstairs. One of their children, born in 1848, was named after his father, William, but in his adult life was better known as Bill "Floaty" Stevenson, and as a member of the Frances Forbes Barton lifeboat crew. The "Frances Forbes Barton" was originally, in 1897, the legacy of a Miss Webster to the boatmen of Broadstairs. It is recorded as having remained at that station until 1912, when it was moved to the Walmer station when the Broadstairs one closed, during which time it had been taken out on 77 launches and saved 115 lives, by far the most effective of the RNLI craft stationed there.

Broadstairs' lifeboats were further supported by a fund established in the 1860s by Sir Charles Reed FSA.

Governance

Broadstairs is within the Thanet local government district. The town contains the five electoral wards of Bradstowe, St Peters, Beacon Road, Viking and Kingsgate. These wards have eleven of the fifty six seats on the Thanet District Council. At the 2007 local elections, all eleven of those seats were held by the Conservative Party.[8] Broadstairs and St Peters Town Council has 15 members, who are elected every four years, led by the mayor.[9]

The Member of Parliament (MP) for South Thanet is Craig Mackinlay of the Conservative Party. He has been the constituency's MP since the United Kingdom 2015 general election.

Broadstairs and St Peter's have been twinned with Wattignies in northern France since the early 1980s.[10]

Geography

White cliffs at Kingsgate beach
White cliffs at Kingsgate beach

The town lies above a harbour with cliffs on either side. It has seven bays of golden sand, which are (from south to north) Dumpton Gap, Louisa Bay, Viking Bay, Stone Bay, Joss Bay, Kingsgate Bay and Botany Bay. North Foreland rises between Stone Bay and Joss Bay.

On the cliffs above Kingsgate Bay is Kingsgate Castle, formerly part of the estate of Lord Holland but now converted into private residences.

Broadstairs has a very mild maritime climate.

Transport links

The town is situated 20 miles (32 km) from both Dover and Canterbury, and about 60 miles (97 km) from the M25, London's orbital motorway.

The town is also served by Southeastern train services to/from London, via either North Kent and Medway or Canterbury and High Speed 1. It is unusual in that trains to London can run either way through the station.

Economy

As a seaside resort, the economy is mainly based around tourism; there are hotels and guest houses on and near the seafront, to accommodate the influx of all year round visitors. Although the number of hotels in recent years has declined because of the high land redevelopment values, this has resulted in an improvement in quality of the existing premises. The High Street has a wide variety of independent shops and services, and there are a small number of factories mainly situated on the small industrial estates on the town's borders. The above-average population age has led to many health and social care jobs at local care homes. At the 2001 UK census, 1.8% of the population resided in a medical or care establishment, which is more than double the national average of only 0.8%.[11] Many jobs in education are provided by the town's relatively high number of schools and colleges.

Employment

At the 2001 census, the economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 34.1% in full-time employment, 12.8% in part-time employment, 10.0% self-employed, 2.9% unemployed, 2.3% students with jobs, 4.1% students without jobs, 20.0% retired, 6.5% looking after home or family, 4.9% permanently sick or disabled and 2.4% economically inactive for other reasons. The percentage of retired people was significantly higher than the national figure of 14%. The percentage of unemployed people was low compared with the national rate of 3.4% and the district rate of 4.4%. Only 12% of residents aged 16–74 had a higher education qualification or the equivalent, compared with 20% nationwide. The Office for National Statistics estimated that during the period of April 2001 to March 2002, the average gross weekly income of households was £522 (£27,219 per year).[11]

The industry of employment of residents, at the 2001 census, was 15% retail, 14% health and social work, 13% manufacturing, 13% education, 10% real estate, 8% construction, 7% transport and communications, 6% public administration, 5% hotels and restaurants, 3% finance, 1% agriculture and 5% other community, social or personal services. Compared with national figures, there was a relatively high number of workers in the education and health/social care industries and a relatively low number in finance and real estate.[11] Many residents commute to work outside the town; at the 2001 census, the town had 9,842 employed residents, but there were only 9,049 jobs within the town.[11]

Industry and commerce

Kingsgate Castle, showing long building of current flats.
Kingsgate Castle has been converted into flats.

Demography

Broadstairs and St Peter's
2001 UK censusBroadstairs and St Peter'sThanet DistrictEngland
Total population24,370126,70249,138,831
Foreign born5.3%5.1%9.2%
White98%98%91%
Asian1.0%0.6%4.6%
Black0.2%0.3%2.3%
Christian75%74%72%
Muslim0.4%0.5%3.1%
Hindu0.3%0.2%1.1%
No religion14%16%15%
65+ years old24%22%16%
Unemployed2.9%4.4%3.3%

At the 2001 UK census, the parish of Broadstairs and St Peter's had 24,370 residents in 10,597 households. Of those households, 34.2% were married couples, 6.7% were cohabiting couples and 8.3% were lone parents. 31.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 20.9% had someone living alone at pensionable age. 25.7% of households included children aged under 16, or a person aged 16 to 18 who was in full-time education.[11]

The parish has a low proportion of non-white people compared with national figures; the ethnicity recorded in the 2001 census was 97.9% white, 0.7% mixed race, 0.3% Chinese, 0.7% other Asian, 0.2% black and 0.2% other.[11] The number of foreign-born residents is relatively low; the place of birth of residents in 2001 was 94.7% United Kingdom, 0.7% Republic of Ireland, 0.5% Germany, 0.9% other Western Europe countries, 0.3% Eastern Europe, 0.8% Africa, 0.6% South Asia, 0.5% Far East, 0.3% North America, 0.2% Middle East, 0.2% Oceania and 0.1% South America.[11] Religion was recorded as 75.3% Christian, 0.4% Muslim, 0.3% Hindu, 0.3% Buddhist and 0.3% Jewish. 14.3% were recorded as having no religion, 0.5% had an alternative religion and 8.6% did not state their religion.[11]

The age distribution was 5% aged 0–4 years, 14% aged 5–15 years, 5% aged 16–19 years, 26% aged 20–44 years, 27% aged 45–64 years and 24% aged 65 years and over. There was a high percentage of residents over 65, compared with the national average of 16%, mainly due to seaside towns being popular retirement destinations. For every 100 females, there were 87.1 males.[12]

Education

Two 3-story gabled towers of East Kent College, in late sun.
East Kent College in Broadstairs.

State schools

Infant and Primary

Secondary Modern and Grammar

The Charles Dickens[13] and St George's[14] are below the 30% GCSE target (Thanet, in common with most of Kent, has a selective secondary education system at age 11).[15]

Special schools

Independent schools

Junior and Preparatory

Senior schools

Colleges and universities

Foreign language

Entertainment and leisure

Sport and recreation

A new event was added to the mix last year - Big Broadstairs Weekend. Starting the season in May, the event is themed, comprises a dance at the Pavilion on the Friday night, Film on the Beach on the Saturday night and Guinness World Record Attempt on the Sunday. Broadstairs currently holds the record for biggest remote dance class.[22]

Local media

Broadstairs has only one paid-for newspaper, the Isle of Thanet Gazette following the demise of its sister publication the Thanet Times in October 2012 after 116 years; both owned by Northcliffe Media.[23] Free newspapers for the town include the Thanet Extra, part of the KM Group; and yourthanet, part of KOS Media. Isle magazine is published quarterly and includes listings of events as well as accommodation and tourist information. A digital edition is available online.

Local radio stations are KMFM Thanet, owned by the KM Group, community radio station Academy FM (Thanet); and the county-wide stations Heart Kent, Gold and BBC Radio Kent.Thanet Community Radio also offer an online community podcasting service for Ramsgate, Broadstairs, Margate and the wider areas of Thanet.[24]

Landmarks and places of interest

Botany Bay
Botany Bay.

Notable residents and visitors

Bleak House where Dickens wrote David Copperfield in a study overlooking the harbour and the sea.
J.H. Somerton as Uncle Mack's Broadstairs Minstrels 1908

References

  1. ↑ "Civil Parish population 2011". Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  2. ↑ Kingsgate Kent - A vision of Britain through time
  3. ↑ Cinque Ports 1155 to 1500 - History effecting Kent & Sussex
  4. ↑ Bygone Kent, vol. 1 no. 6, 1980.
  5. ↑ Will of Richard Culmer, of St Peter, Thanet, proved 1494; Canterbury Cathedral Archives; PRC 17/6/81; line 10 of the registered will: "land lyyng & being at brodstayrlynch"
  6. ↑ Glover, Judith, The Place Names of Kent, 1982, ISBN 0-905270-61-4
  7. 1 2 3 History of Broadstairs at the Town Council website
  8. ↑ "Council & Democracy". Thanet District Council. Archived from the original on 18 May 2007. Retrieved 29 March 2007.
  9. ↑ "Council — People". Broadstairs and St Peters Town Council. Archived from the original on 4 April 2007. Retrieved 11 June 2007.
  10. ↑ "Twinning Town". Broadstairs and St Peters Town Council. Archived from the original on 14 March 2007. Retrieved 29 May 2007.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Neighbourhood Statistics". Statistics.gov.uk. Retrieved 29 March 2007.
  12. ↑ "Neighbourhood Statistics". Statistics.gov.uk. Retrieved 29 May 2007.
  13. ↑ "BBC News, School league tables 2007, Kent LA". BBC News. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  14. ↑ "BBC News, School league tables 2007, Kent LA". BBC News. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  15. ↑ "Schools below 30% GCSE target". BBC News. 9 June 2008. Retrieved 27 April 2010.though for St George's, 2010 exam results, as yet unpublished nationally, were excellent with 41% of students obtaining 5 A*-C with Maths and English and 84% receiving 5 A*-C overall.
  16. ↑ Stone Bay School, Broadstairs | The Good Schools Guide
  17. ↑ "Broadstairs Dickens Festival". BroadstairsDickensFestival.co.uk. Retrieved 29 May 2007.
  18. ↑ "Broadstairs Folk Week". BroadstairsFolkWeek.org.uk. Retrieved 29 May 2007.
  19. ↑ Letters V, to John Forster, [19 September 1847].
  20. ↑ ‘Swimmer Drowns in Rough Sea Off Broadstairs’, This is Kent <http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/Swimmer-drowns-rough-sea-Broadstairs/story-16283416-detail/story.html> [accessed 5 June 2012]
  21. ↑ ‘Rescue Operation Sees Dozens Rescued by Lifeboat After 50 Swimmers Are Swept Out to Sea During Charity Race’, Daily Mail (London, 30 August 2011), Mail Online edition <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2031393/Rescue-operation-sees-dozens-rescued-lifeboat-50-swimmers-swept-sea-charity-race.html> [accessed 8 January 2012].
  22. ↑ "Largest remote dance class". Guinness World Records. Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2015. 22 May 2011 Largest remote dance class, Dancing Queens, Broadstairs
  23. ↑
  24. ↑ Thanet Community Radio Signature
  25. ↑ Conversations With Spirits by E O Higgins, a Review | Matthew Hirtes
  26. 1 2 Novel is set in Thanet | Thanet Gazette
  27. ↑ http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/bruce-robinson-i-started-drinking-again-because-of-the-rum-diary-2216721.html

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Broadstairs.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Broadstairs.
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Broadstairs.
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