Ramsgate is located to the south east of Kent in an area called the Isle of Thanet. Though no longer a true island, Thanet consists of three main towns, Ramsgate, Margate and Broadstairs plus other smaller towns and villages.

Ramsgate has a rich past. Progress has been good on the sea front development - Marina Esplanade running from the main beach away from the harbour. This will include a new promenade and refurbishment of the cliff lift.

Early Visitors
The Romans, Saxons, Jutes and Danes all visited the area and made rather a nuisance of themselves before the first millennium. In between these invasions and raids, in the year 597, St Augustine, sent by the Pope to bring Christianity to the unruly hordes of English, arrived on Thanet. Later on that year he was made the first Archbishop of Canterbury.

After William of Normandy had conquered England though, we were a bit better at keeping marauders out, and the Kent coast has many castles and forts built through succeeding years which seemed to do the trick.

The Beginnings
People had been settling in the area for centuries. By the 18th century Ramsgate was a fair sized fishing town and development began, starting with the harbour in 1749. The place gradually become fashionable with nobility, writers and artists, Jane Austen, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Charles Dickens, Turner and Vincent van Gogh among them over the years.

In the early 1800s, soldiers assembled in Ramsgate to fight on the continent in the Napoleonic Wars under Wellington. The classic Regency terrace Wellington Crescent was started in 1819. It stands on the low cliff top overlooking the sea front, timelessly elegant after all these years. Plains of Waterloo, a road leading off Wellington Crescent also reminds of the connection with The Iron Duke.  

The Clock House, now a museum, built in 1817 played an important part in maritime navigation in the days when finding the exact longitude was a problem. From the Solar Transit Observatory within the building, readings of the positions of the sun and moon were made to ensure the clock itself was accurate. Ships' chronometers could then be checked against the clock with confidence.

In 1821 George lV, formerly the Prince Regent, left from Ramsgate for Hanover, and was so overwhelmed by the response of the public to his return later that year that he gave the harbour the title Royal Harbour. An obelisk erected to commemorate this can be seen opposite the Clock Tower.This obviously helped the tourist trade somewhat. In the late 1840s the railway came making it easy to travel from London and beyond. Ramsgate grew steadily as a consequence.

The flavour of Ramsgate in late Victorian times is portrayed by the painting Life at the Seaside (Ramsgate Sands) by William Powell Frith. Once owned by Queen Victoria, remembering Ramsgate from her times there as a girl, the painting shows ladies in voluminous clothes enjoying the sunshine. Not even a bare ankle in sight, except for those of the young children being allowed to paddle, held from behind by their mothers.

Today
Ramsgate today owes a lot to its Victorian ancestors. Away from the harbour the ground slopes steadily to the west with the road supported by red brick arches as it climbs to overlook the harbour, and (relatively) new marina. To the east, Madeira Walk curves gently upwards providing a good setting for Albion Gardens on the left. Behind the sea from the town starts, part old village and part new shopping centre. Along the harbour area there are amusement arcades and plenty of places to eat and drink.  Visitors will find an enormous number of charming listed properties which no doubts contributes to the meteoric rise in property prices that the area has seen in recent years.