Ramsgate
Ramsgate is a seaside port town and civil parish in the district of Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate's main attraction is its coastline, and its main industries are tourism and fishing. The town has one of the largest marinas on the English south coast, and the Port of Ramsgate provided cross-channel ferries for many years.
History
Ramsgate began as a fishing and farming hamlet. The Christian missionary St Augustine, sent by Pope Gregory the Great, landed near Ramsgate in AD 597. The town is home to the Shrine of St Augustine.The earliest reference to the town is in the Kent Hundred Rolls of 1274–5, both as Remmesgate and as Remisgat. The names Ramisgate and Raunsgate appear in the parish of St. Laurence records. These are all derived from late Anglo-Saxon 'Hremmes' from earlier 'Hræfnes' and 'geat', with reference to the gap in the cliffs. In 1357, the area became known as Ramesgate.
Ramsgate was a member of the Confederation of Cinque Ports, under the 'Limb' of Sandwich, Kent. The construction of Ramsgate Harbour began in 1749 and was completed in around 1850. The harbour has the distinction of being the only Royal Harbour in the United Kingdom. Because of its proximity to mainland Europe, Ramsgate was a chief embarkation point both during the Napoleonic Wars and for the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940.
The Official Illustrated Guide to South-Eastern and North and Mid-Kent Railways by George Measom describes Ramsgate thus: 'It is impossible to speak too favourably of this first-rate town, its glorious sands, its bathing, its hotels, libraries, churches, etc. etc. not forgetting its bracing climate...The streets of Ramsgate are well paved or macadamed and brilliantly lighted with gas.'
The architect A W Pugin and his sons lived in Ramsgate and built several important buildings there, including St Augustine's Church, The Grange, St Augustine's Abbey, and The Granville Hotel.
The artist Vincent van Gogh moved to Ramsgate in April 1876, at age 23. He boarded at 11 Spencer Square, which is identified by a blue plaque. He obtained work as a teacher at a local school in Royal Road, where he received his post. In one of his letters to his brother Theo, he described his surroundings: "There's a harbour full of all kinds of ships, closed in by stone jetties running into the sea on which one can walk. And further out one sees the sea in its natural state, and that's beautiful."
In 1901, an electric tram service, one of the few inter-urban tramways in Britain, was introduced on the Isle of Thanet. The towns of Ramsgate, Margate and Broadstairs were linked by 11 miles of track.
In the First World War, in 1915–1916, early aircraft began to use the open farmland at Manston as a site for emergency landings. The location near the Kent coast gave Manston some advantages over other previously established aerodromes. During the same War, Ramsgate and its harbour were the target of bombing raids by Zeppelin airships and German Navy torpedo boats. By 1917 the Royal Flying Corps was well established and taking an active part in the defence of Britain. As RAF Manston, the aerodrome played an important role in the Second World War. It is now called Kent International Airport, but is currently not operational.
In 1923, Ramsgate elected its first woman Mayor, Janet Stancomb-Wills, after whom the Dame Janet Primary Academy on Newington Road is named. As the Second World War approached, Ramsgate Borough Council embarked on plans to create a network of Deep Shelter tunnels linking to a former railway tunnel which would provide shelter for 60,000 people. The tunnels were opened on 1 June 1939. In 2014, part of this network was opened to visitors.
In October 1939, the Royal Navy established a Coastal Forces base at Ramsgate called HMS Fervent, which operated Motor Torpedo Boats, Motor Gun Boats and Motor Launches until September 1945. From 27 May 1940, Ramsgate harbour was the main assembly point for the build-up of small craft needed for Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk. Once the evacuation was under way, Ramsgate became the second-busiest port after Dover, and just under 43,000 men passed through the port, transported onwards by 82 special trains.
In 2017 Ramsgate was chosen as one of the first ten Heritage Action Zones by Historic England, with the aim of stimulating economic growth by taking advantage of Ramsgate's historic environment. Part of this project included a Historic Landscape Characterisation Study which assessed and mapped the patterns of historic character in the town, using geological and topographical surveys, and covering aspects from the Neolithic, medieval, Georgian, Victorian, and through to the First and Second World War periods.
Geography
Ramsgate is located 78 miles from central London in an east south-easterly direction at one of the most easterly points of the United Kingdom.The town is an amalgamation of two settlements: a fishing community on the coast in the shallow valley between two chalk cliffs, and an inland farming community that is now the Parish of St Lawrence. The cliffs are known as the East Cliff and the West Cliff and are predominantly residential areas. There are promenades along both cliff tops with parks at either end and sandy beaches on the coast.
Climate
Ramsgate has an oceanic climate as is typical in the United Kingdom; the nearest Met Office weather station for which data is available is Manston Airport, about two miles west of the town centre.The highest temperature ever recorded is 34.6 °C in August 2003, though typically the warmest day of the year averages 28.5 °C and 8.8 days will record a temperature of 25.1 °C or above.
The lowest recorded temperature is -14.5 °C, in February 1986, though typically the coldest night of the year averages -6.2 °C.
A total of 21.4 days of the year should record an air frost.
Rainfall averages around 600 mm per year, a figure similar to that for the driest parts of England. Over 1 mm of rain can be expected on 110.1 days. Averages refer to a mixture of the 1971–2000, 1981–2010 and 1991–2020 climate periods.
Being close to the coast, and in Southern England, sunshine compares favourably with most of the United Kingdom, at over 1800 hours a year. Only the Sussex coast tends to be notably sunnier, although much of the remainder of the south coast receives a similar amount of sunshine as Ramsgate.
Governance
Ramsgate is in the parliamentary constituency of East Thanet, which is represented by Labour MP Polly Billington. She won the seat in the 2024 general election, representing a Labour win after Craig Mackinlay held the seat for the Conservatives in the 2015 General Election. Before 2015 the MP for Ramsgate was Conservative Laura Sandys. She was preceded by Stephen Ladyman, a Labour minister; he was preceded by Jonathan Aitken.Ramsgate was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1884. This was abolished in 1974, since when Ramsgate has been part of the Thanet local government district. The town is made up of seven electoral wards: Central Harbour, Cliffsend and Pegwell, Eastcliff, Nethercourt, Newington, Northwood, and Sir Moses Montefiore. These wards have seventeen of the fifty-six seats on the Thanet District Council; since the 2019 local elections eleven of those seats have been held by Labour, three by Thanet Independents, two by the Conservative Party and one by the Green Party. Currently the council is run by a Conservative minority.
Following a successful campaign by local activist Gerry O'Donnell, a town council was established for Ramsgate in June 2009. The Town Mayor of Ramsgate is currently Councillor Raushan Ara.
Economy
Ramsgate's main industries are tourism and fishing. The town has a thriving marina with over 800 moorings and a range of marine-related businesses that operate in the renovated arches under Royal Parade. Colleges in the town also cater for students of English as a foreign language.Although Ramsgate has the most valuable fish landings in Kent, the fishing industry is in decline. The Port of Ramsgate has provided cross-channel ferries for many years. Previously, Sally Ferries UK provided a passenger and car ferry service to Dunkirk. Until April 2013, Transeuropa Ferries operated a freight and car ferry between Ramsgate and Ostend in Belgium.
As of 2006, unemployment in Thanet stood at 4.1%; this is higher than the national average. There is some light industry in the town. An emerging industry is power generation, with 800 jobs expected to be created by the Thanet offshore wind project, a wind farm just off the coast. Ramsgate market is held in High Street, King Street and Queen Street every Friday and Saturday.
Ramsgate has a LETS scheme which was set up in 2014 enabling residents to trade goods and services using the virtual currency RAMs. It is working with the Newington Wellbeing Network to improve the lives of people living in the Newington ward of Ramsgate.
Demographics
According to the 2001 UK census, Ramsgate had a population of 42,027.The ethnicity of the town was 93.5% white, 0.8% mixed race, 0.3% black, 0.3% Chinese, 0.4% other Asian and 0.1% other ethnicity.
The place of birth of residents was 90.9% United Kingdom, 4.7% EU, 1% Far East, 1.8% Africa, 0.9% Other.
Religion was recorded as 45% Christian, 1.2% Muslim, 0.6% Hindu, 0.4% Buddhist, 0.1% Sikh and 0.2% Jewish. 52% were recorded as having no religion, 0.3% had an alternative religion and 7.1% did not state their religion.
For every 100 women, there were 93.7 men. The age distribution was 21.5% aged 0–17 years, 56% aged 17–65 years, 24% and 20% aged 65 years and over.
Culture
Tourism
The town's main attraction is its coastline, particularly Ramsgate Main Sands, which was awarded a Blue Flag in 2015. Ramsgate's wartime deep shelter tunnels are open to the public for tours, which have been running since 2014.The town has a small population of feral rose-ringed parakeets. The story about them appearing in Ramsgate remains a mystery. According to some sources, they may have flown away from the trading ships coming from British India in the 1800s. The local council publishes a website specifically aimed at tourists visiting Ramsgate and neighbouring towns.
There is an annual regatta event during the summer. Ramsgate Carnival is an annual parade that takes place during the summer. Other events include the annual Addington Street Fair and the French Market.