Margate in Maps and Pictures

Margate before Sea Bathing: Anthony Lee

'Margate before Sea Bathing' is available in an on-line version here, or as a paperback from Amazon.co.uk at £14.64.

Margate before Sea Bathing: The early history of a Seaside Town

Anthony Lee

Margate was to become one of the first English seaside resorts, but it had been little more than a fishing village before the pleasures of sea bathing became popular in the early eighteenth century. This book uses a wide range of original documents to describe the early history of Margate, to show what life was like in Margate at the time, and to show how the foundations were laid for the town’s future importance. .

388 pages, paperback. Available from Amazon.co.uk at £14.64: postage free

Margate in the Georgian Era: Anthony Lee

During the Georgian era, from 1714 to 1830, the town of Margate was transformed from a small run-down fishing village into one of the first sea-side resorts. This 212 page large-format book with 150 full coloured illustrations tells the story of this transformation, in maps, pictures, caricatures and prints of the time. It describes the importance of the Margate hoys and the early steam ships in providing cheap and ready access from London. It describes the typical visitor to Margate, how these early visitors would bathe in the sea, and the hotels, assembly rooms and libraries built for their amusement. The book will be of interest to those wanting to explore the development of the English holiday, as well, of course, to those with a particular interest in the county of Kent and the town of Margate.

212 pages, 8.5ins x 11ins, 150 illustrations in full colour, with full-colour stiff card cover.

A view inside the book [PDF file] is available Margate in the Georgian Era

The book can be ordered for £35 a copy (postage extra) from Lulu.co.uk

Margate Through Time

Margate through time: Anthony Lee, John Robinson and Janet Robinson

Margate was one of the first English seaside resorts. From the 1730s it set out to attract visitors, particularly from London, who came by coach and sailing ship to take advantage of the fine sandy beaches and healthy air. Fashionable squares and terraces overlooking the sea were built to house the visitors and much of this Georgian and Victorian heritage remains, and is illustrated in this book.

The book starts with a pictorial description of Old Margate, based on a walk described in 'The Steam Boat Companion' published in 1834. The two following chapters describe the expansion of the town westward to Westbrook and eastward to Cliftonville. The pairs of old and new pictures show a town with a long history making a new future for itself.

96 pp, full colour. Newly published by Amberley Press at £14.99. Available from local bookshops and on line from Amazon etc.

Margate Museum, Margate Old Town, and the Grotto

A corner of the Museum

Margate Museum Web Page for opening times etc.

Margate Museum Facebook Page

Margate Old Town Information

The Shell Grotto Margate webpage

OLD NEWS:

5 March 2014. Joshua Waddington

2 February 2014.

An article, Margate Crime and Margate Punishment, has been added to the site and can be accessed from the drop-down menu on the left (Margate Articles/Margate Crime). A study of Margate crime gives us an insight into the lives of the poor of Margate and their struggle for survival, as reported in the court records and newspapers of the time. Margate was a ‘limb’ or administrative part of the port and town of Dover and under this arrangement, Dover was responsible for the implementation of law in Margate. This was a constant irritant to the town and even after receiving its Charter of Independence, the complexities of the Cinque Port System were such that the inhabitants of Margate were sent to Dover for trial and were imprisoned in Dover gaol.

3 November 2013.

Early town directories generally do not include addresses. Surveys of land and properties made for rating purposes do, however, contain names of the owners of property, and, in some cases, these owners will also be the occupiers of the property. A survey of the property in Margate was made in 1801 and a copy of the survey was printed. It seems likely that all copies of the printed survey have now been lost, but a manuscript copy was made by Jane Edwards, with notes by Arthur Walton Rowe; this manuscript is in Margate Library Local History Collection. This I have now transcribed and made into a web-searchable version. It can be seen from the ‘Directories’ menu on the left or from the link Margate Valuations 1801.

27 October 2013.

In the days before photography, the cinema, television and the web, when newspapers contained no pictures, and  there were no holiday brochures, how were holiday makers going to decide which sea-side town to visit for their annual holidays?  At the end of the eighteenth century and start of the nineteenth, the citizens of London  could see pictures of Margate  at the Panorama in Leicester Square, and in a number of theatrical productions, including Summer Amusements, or an Adventure at Margate, at the Haymarket, and  in pantomimes at Covent Garden  and other theatres.  These are described in a new article, Representations of Margate in Early London Shows.

13 October 2013. An article has been added describing the destruction of the old Royal Hotel and Assembly Rooms at Margate by fire in 1882, the subsequent rebuilding of the Assembly Rooms, their conversion into the Grand Theatre and their eventual renaming as the Hippodrome. The article can be accessed from the left hand menu (Margate Articles) or from here: Margate Assembly Room Fire.

18 August 2013. Thanks to Janet Robinson for an article on the Jarvis Family in Birchington and Margate, including, of course, Dr. Daniel Jarvis, responsible for 'Jarvis's Landing Place'. The article can be accessed from the left hand menu (Margate Articles) or from here: The Jarvis Family of Birchington and Margate.

17 July 2013. A better version of Arthur Rowe’s map of the lower High Street in 1840 has been added, courtesy of James Brazier. It can be accessed from the left hand menus, or from here: Margate Lower High Street 1840.

An article on the Margate Local Board of Health 1851-1858 has also been added. This was a very important period in Margate’s history, bridging the gap between the period of rule by the old, self-selected, Town Improvement Commissioners and the more democratic rule by the Margate Town Council, appointed when Margate was given Borough status in 1857. During their period of rule, the Margate Local Board demolished the slums of Pump Lane and Jumble Joss Island, built a new road to the Fort and secured the public walks on the Fort, built sea defences at Westbrook in conjunction with the development of the Royal Crescent, and were involved in the building of a new cemetery and a new Jetty. The final success of the Local Board was to plot its own demise, working actively to obtain a Charter of Incorporation for the town.

The history of the Local Board can be accessed from the left hand menu (Margate Articles) or from here: Margate Local Board of Health. If, like me, you find reading large amounts of text from the screen rather tiring, there is a toggle switch ‘Reading Version’ at the top left of each article, and this switches the article into a clearer mode for reading. Pressing the toggle switch a second time reverts to the original view.

The search facility has been updated to include recently-added pictures and the new articles.

Ride the Margate Trams.