Hampton-on-Sea
Hampton-on-Sea is a drowned and abandoned village in what is now the Hampton area of Herne Bay, Kent. It grew from a tiny fishing hamlet in 1864 at the hands of an oyster fishery company, was developed from 1879 by land agents, abandoned in 1916 and finally drowned due to coastal erosion by 1921. All that now remains is the stub of the original pier, the Hampton Inn, and the rocky arc of Hampton-on-Sea's ruined coastal defence visible at low tide. The site is notable for sharing its history with the eccentric Edmund Reid. Reid was previously the Metropolitan Police head of CID who handled the Jack the Ripper case. In retirement he chose to champion the plight of the beleaguered residents of the settlement.
Location
Today Hampton, Herne Bay is the coastal west end of Herne Bay, Kent. The site of Hampton-on-Sea is now underwater due to coastal erosion, but it was on the west side of the northern end of Hampton Pier Avenue, between the 1959 sea defences and the remains of the sea wall which are exposed at low water in Hampton bay. When Hampton-on-Sea existed and until 1934, the Hampton-on-Sea site was under the jurisdiction of Blean Rural District Council, the boundary with Herne Bay Council running north–south along the line of the present-day Hampton Pier Avenue. In 1934, the area was transferred to Herne Bay Urban District Council, and in 1974 to Canterbury City Council.History
Background
On the sea-bed, offshore of this site, are remains of prehistoric and Roman activity. Hampton means "home farm", and before the development there were two farmhouses, a beerhouse, a few cottages containing the Mount and Quick fishing families, and the West Brook which was also known as Hampton Brook. The settlement had a reputation for a wild life, and Hill Farmhouse was said to have cellars or caves underneath for smuggling. Some cottages were built of old boats and wreckage; Hampton Farmhouse was then 300 yards from the sea and dated back to the 17th century. A low sea cliff made of soil edged the coast west of Hampton Pier, and coastal erosion was already an acknowledged problem for the farmers by 1836. Altogether the coastline at this site receded by in the years between the completion of Hampton Pier in 1865, and the start of construction of modern coastal defences in 1958. Sea floodings have been officially recorded on this coastline since the great storm of 1897.Oyster fisheries
s had thriven in the Thames Estuary since the Romans promoted them; they were sold in city streets and eaten raw. The Herne Bay, Hampton and Reculver Oyster Fishery Company was incorporated with £10,000 capital in £10 shares on 25 July 1864 with Frank Buckland as chairman and Mr Cholmondeley Pennell as deputy. 1860–1864 had been a boom year for oyster farming, especially in nearby Whitstable, and the government supported the trade in 1866 by passing an Act to promote cultivation. The company's proposals included five oyster smacks or yawls, a pier with storehouses, housing for workers and five freshwater breeding ponds. In spite of objections from local business competition, the company acquired an Act of Parliament and land at Hampton. According to the Act of 25 July 1864, the company had sole rights to dredge for oysters for from Swalecliffe to Reculver and up to – but mainly one and a half miles – from shore. The total area under its jurisdiction was nine square miles, of which a third was foreshore, and it employed thirty-three regular men; sometimes up to a hundred. In 1865 and 1866 their chairman Cholmondeley Pennell applied unsuccessfully for extensions to these rights. Before selling the oysters dredged from the estuary, the company obtained brood oysters from Essex, France, the Netherlands and Portugal. The smacks took the oysters twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays to Billingsgate.The company was successful at first, although stressed by underfunding and the cost of the pier, and by 1866 an enquiry commission stated: "The Company have already cleared about five square miles, and culched about one square mile of their grounds, and have laid down on parts of their beds many millions of oysters". However, as the company was still relatively new, they had not yet developed their oysters to quite the same market value as the long-established Whitstable ones. A sideline for the Hampton fishermen was cement stones, because they were found on the Hampton fishing grounds. These were boulders the size of a man's head, sold to manufacturers of Roman cement. There was a dispute with the rival Whitstable Oyster Company, and Whitstable was fined £1 per oyster taken from Hampton's grounds, while Hampton was accused of not fully exploiting its breeding ponds and of importing foreign oysters for resale. In 1869, local inshore fishermen complained that their traditional territory was now defended on the company's behalf by HMS Buzzard and that the company employed outsiders for long hours and low pay. In the 1870s the oyster trade went into decline and suffered over-fishing, and in 1876 the Government set up a select committee to enquire into scarcity and price. The result was the 1877 Act which prevented sale of dredged oysters in June to August, and freshwater pond oysters between May and August. In the following three severe winters, oysters died in the shallow estuary waters and the company went into liquidation. The business passed into the hands of hotel owner Major Davis who closed it down when his operation went to Faversham. Company assets were sold on 20 July 1881 and it officially wound up in 1884.
Tramway
The tramway began and ended with the oyster fishery from 1864 to 1884. So that cargo could begin its journey to Kent and London on a horse-tram, the tramway was built due south from the pier to the railway which had been built in 1861. This track, which was later to become Hampton Pier Avenue, was straightened at its northern end and raised above risk of flood for the tram. By 1866 the tracks were still not laid along the pier itself, but according to the OS map of 1878, it had been completed by then. At the southern end, the tramway curved westward, running beside Westbrook, and reached the railway line just east of the point where Westbrook crosses it, and to the west of where Hampton Close is today: see 1878 map, pictured. One Judah Downs won £900 in a dispute over land crossed by the tramway, and the company later bought him out as well. After the company went into liquidation, the tramway was removed in the 1880s. For much of the 20th century it was possible to see where the tramway reached the railway line.Resort
Thomas Kyffin Freeman, owner of the Herne Bay Argus, formed the Hampton-on-Sea Estate Association Limited in 1879 with £60,000 capital in £10 shares, but only sold 398 shares. He built a bandstand, built foundations for reading rooms and planned tennis courts, a miniature golf course, an archery green and a recreation ground. He organised a sports day with free teas and amusement rides, but too many visitors arrived and he ran out of teas. With builder Thomas Richard Geelong Hoe he planned a housing estate, and a Hampton-on-Sea nameboard was put up at Herne Bay railway station in expectation of this, but then he died in 1880. The company was eventually dissolved in 1905.Frederick Francis Ramuz, Mayor of Southend and land agent, bought the property cheaply. The Hampton Pier Inn became the Land Company's base for its administration of the of land it had bought altogether in Herne Bay. Planned street names which no longer exist were Swalecliffe Gardens, Hampton Grand Parade, Marine Drive, Canterbury Gardens, Hampton Gardens, Eddington Gardens next to Hampton Farmhouse and Herncliffe Gardens incorporating the oyster fishery's Hampton Terrace. The company proposed a genteel resort with large brick bungalows and villas, a temperance hotel plus church, and shops plus tavern. Freeman's idea for a recreation ground was resurrected for good measure.
Ramuz divided the "Grand Parade Estate at Hampton-on-Sea" into 124 development plots for the first auction on 17 September 1888 "to suit all classes" and set up a sales marquee onsite. Cheap, refundable train fares and a free lunch were promised to prospective purchasers. All the plots were sold within one and a half hours after the buyers, mostly from London, were serenaded by the Buffs 3rd Battalion band during their free lunch. Plots facing the sea made £18, and those at the back £8 to £9, with the old farmhouse making £100 and the tavern plot £39: all moneys were payable in instalments. The Land Company made £2,000.
By the date of the second marquee-auction of 126 more plots, the Land Company had built roads and was repairing the pier. Plots were advertised more energetically than before and promoted on the basis of Herne Bay's smallness, cheapness, ripeness for speculation and its proximity to the railway line. Sales were aimed at landlords wanting to buy cheaply and rent at profit, because at that time house-ownership was uncommon and tenancy was the norm. Prospective purchasers were promised trams and buses to take tenants to the railway station, or even an extra railway station close to the estate. The empty and rural nature of this spot was translated into promises of botanising, shooting, bathing, sailing and angling. Although no cheap train was provided on this occasion, plots sold at £8 to £32, making the Land Company £1,370. During 1889 sales were promoted by newspaper advertisements rather than auctions, and the pier's repairs were said to be ongoing. According to these advertisements there were croquet lawns and tennis courts plus a spring.
A third sale of 144 plots took place on 7 July 1890 making £2,450 for the Land Company, and events included a regatta with a coastguards' race and pair-oared rowing race, plus a traditional duck hunt in which a man acts as duck. The fourth and final auction of 124 plots on 28 July 1890 promised yet another special train from London and the opportunity to buy the shop plots and more villa plots. Four shop plots went for £54, villa plots for £3 to £7, and we are not told the sum earned by the company. Some plots remained unsold, and these were advertised throughout 1891. Following the four auctions and three years of advertising, very few plots were developed, and the temperance hotel, church, shops and tavern were never built.