History of Ramsgate

: "For Ramsgate as a whole, see the main article Ramsgate."

Ramsgate as a name has its earliest reference as Hraefn's ate, or cliff gap, later to be rendered 'Ramisgate' or 'Remmesgate' around 1225 and 'Ramesgate' from 1357.

Ramsgate's Royal Harbour

The construction of Ramsgate Harbour began in 1749 and was completed in about 1850.

The two most influential architects of the Harbour were father and son John Shaw and John Shaw Jr, who designed the clockhouse, the obelisk, the lighthouse and the Jacob's Ladder steps. [http://www.shaw-hardwick.co.uk]

The Harbour has the unique distinction of being the only Royal Harbour in the United Kingdom, King George IV having awarded the title following his successful visit with the Royal Yacht Squadron in 1821.

It is evident from many accounts of local sea rescues that the Ramsgate tugboats, whilst undertaking salvage work, were also able to assist with the saving of lives. The tugmen performed many a noteworthy task in this regard, either alone or in co-operation with the lifeboats, which they would regularly tow to the scene of an imminent disaster to stand off whilst the smaller craft would attend.

A lifeboat station was established at Ramsgate as early as 1802, its first lifeboat having been built for the Trustees of the Harbour by the lifeboat pioneer Henry Greathead. Half a century later however, during which time the station had been closed for 28 years, a new Ramsgate lifeboat, the 'Northumberland' appeared there in 1851. The lifeboat was named in honour of the lifeboat sponsor, the Duke of Northumberland. The new and prized boat had been built in accordance with the plans of a model that had been the prize-winner in the 1851 national competition for the best design for such a craft.

In the summer of 1824, Captain K. Martin, then the Harbour Master at Ramsgate, instituted the proceedings of the first known cricket match on the Goodwin Sands, at low water. Such was the tenacity of local mariners, a tradition sprung up that survives to this day, whereby those so inclined make the journey to the Sands for a leisurely few hours in pursuit of this very English past-time.

In 1859 Jerimiah Walker (having previously distinguished himself by his humane, zealous and successful efforts in rescuing the Master and the crew of the Northern Belle), as a seaman of the lugger "Petrel" assisted in the rescue of the crew of the Spanish vessel "Julia", which had become stranded off Ramsgate. For this assistance he was awarded a medal struck on the authority of Queen Donna Isabella II of Spain, thus Walker is believed to be one of the few men to have received two separate medals issued by different Heads of State.

On New Year's Day 1861 an event at sea of considerable loss of life occurred with the wreck of the "Guttenburg". Then, as now, the most hazardous area around the Kent coastline for any navigator was the Goodwin Sands.

Electric Tramways & Lighting Co. Ltd.

At the turn of the 20th century, the Isle of Thanet saw the introduction of about convert|11|mi|km of track, laid down for the use of the Electric Tramways & Lighting Co. Ltd, which began its service with electric trams on 4 April 1901, linking the towns of Ramsgate, Margate and Broadstairs. On 3 August 1905, an unseasonably wet summer's day, Car No. 41, during a routine descent of the precipitous, and adverse camber leading down Madeira Walk hill into Ramsgate harbour, suddenly careered out of control, jumping the tracks, causing it to crash straight through the railings, so that it then dropped over the convert|30|ft|m|sing=on cliff edge adjacent. Providentially, only a few passengers were travelling on Car No. 41 that day, and they came out of the ordeal unscathed, but the driver, who was new to the job, sustained some injury. The Electric Tramways & Lighting Co. Ltd. continued to operate with no further significant incidents recorded until its services were replaced with the buses of the East Kent Road Car Co, which began on 27 March 1937.

This was one of the few inter-urban tramways in Britain, owned by a private company and running through open countyside between the three towns (most of it built over now}. Much of the route was on its own right of way, and this only became public roads when the tramway was abandoned.

The line started in Westbrook west of Margate, at the junction of Canterbury and Walton roads. A little tram-shed survived there until recently, and the tram-tracks were to be preserved in the housing development replacing it. Along Canterbury Road and the sea-front, then dividing in two. In the Broadstairs direction, up Paradise Street (now incorporated into Fort Hill dual carriageway); from Broadstairs, down Fort Hill and along King Street. Then Fort Crescent, Athelstan Road, Northdown Road to private track connecting to Lower Northdown Road. This bit is now a public footpath. Lower Northdown Road eastwards to the Wheatsheaf, then cuts across country to Northdown Hill. This bit is a rough track now. Past the main tramshed on the corner, still there and used as factory units, into Westover Road. Church Street (over railway) to St Peters, Albion Road to crossroads, left under railway bridge by Broadstairs station, along Broadstairs High Street to Queens Road, Oscott Road and the seafront. Then along private right of way to Ramsgate, now Dumpton Park Drive. Bellevue Road, Plains of Waterloo, Nelson Crescent, down Madeira Walk to Ramsgate Harbour. Up Royal Parade, Paragon, St Augustines Road, all the way along Grange Road, right at Park Road, to the old South Eastern Ry station where it had its own approach to the south of the station.This was the terminus.

There was also a short-cut between Ramsgate and St Peters called the Top Road, which ran from the crossroads by Broadstairs station, south along Osborne Road, Gladstone Road, across Ramsgate Road and on private right of way (now Salisbury Avenue) to the main line. This was very lightly used and no-one is sure why it was built. Broadstairs town wanted to build a proper town centre at the station crossroads before WWI but could not find the money, and this may have had something to do with it.

The company wanted to extend to Birchington, but was defeated by the landowners of housing estates at Westgate who wanted to keep the riff-raff away. Perhaps as a result, Westgate was refused its application to become a separate urban district because it lacked "civic character" before WWI (it became part of Margate).A line to Pegwell village was also proposed.

The trams were double-decker, but never had roofs on the upper deck, even in winter. This was because the track was narrow-gauge and there were many right-angle bends. Twelve could squeeze into the lower deck, where there were two wooden benches facing each other, but in bad weather the top deck was extremely unpleasant. The service could not hope to compete with buses all year round, even if the trams were fondly remembered on hot summer days.

Ramsgate at war

Because of its proximity to mainland Europe, Ramsgate was a chief embarkation point both for the Dunkirk evacuation and during the Napoleonic Wars. 4,200 ships left Ramsgate Harbour to rescue men from the Dunkirk beaches during World War 2.

On 24 May 1990, the 50th anniversary of the evacuation of Dunkirk was remembered when some 80 of the original 'little ships' gathered at Dover and Ramsgate to repeat the now historic crossing of the channel. Only six out of this fleet had any difficulties, but were assisted by others in the flotilla.

One of these little ships was the first Motor lifeboat stationed of Ramsgate which was named the 'Prudential' and had arrived on station by 1926. During World War II the Ramsgate lifeboat and crew were called out 60 times, greatly distinguishing themselves with the saving of 170 lives, in addition to the men brought back from Dunkirk: (Jeff Morris).

One of the Dunkirk 'little ships' still moored at Ramsgate and open to the public is the Motor Yacht "Sundowner", (built 1912) once the private yacht of the second officer of the "Titanic", C.H. Lightoller, whom surviving that fatal wreck later insisted personally at being at the helm during the evacuation of Dunkirk. He succeeded in bringing home 127 members of the 'Expeditionary Forces' in just one trip.

After these events 42,783 soldiers were transported from Ramsgate railway station, carried by 82 southern rail special trains, the second busiest station during the evacuation, next to Dover, which carried over 180,000 men moved by 327 trains.

Shortly before the outbreak of World War II the local council, thanks in large part to the town Mayor Alderman Kempe [http://www.ramsgate-society.org.uk/about.htm] , decided to enlarge the existing tunnels under the town as a public air-raid shelter - and after the war started the national government finally gave permission to spend the money - it was built and used a lot during the raids. See the [http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/r/ramsgate_air_raid_shelter_and_scenic_railway/index.shtml Subterranea Britannica] website for more details.

Airfield

In 1915-1916 early aircraft began to use the open farmlands at Manston as a site for emergency landings. The location near the Kent coast gave Manston some advantages over the other previously established aerodromes. By 1917 the Royal Flying Corps was well established and taking an active part in the defence of England. The aerodrome played an important role in the second World War and is now known as Kent International Airport.

External links

* [http://www.oldstratforduponavon.com/ramsgate A Few Views of Ramsgate in Old Postcards]
* [http://thanetunderground.blogspot.com/ Blog with pictures looking at the air raid and smugglers tunnels under Ramsgate]
* [http://oldramsgate.blogspot.com/ Pictures of Ramsgate from 1900 and from the same locations in 2006]
* [http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/r/ramsgate_air_raid_shelter_and_scenic_railway/index.shtml Subterranea Britannica - Ramsgate Tunnels]