Margate in Maps and Pictures

compiled by Anthony Lee

Newly Added Pictures

Click on pictures for a larger image

3 July 2022

Some Margate Ephemera

Asylum for Deaf and Dumb Prizes ticket 1891

Bathing Machine Benjamin Beale 1752

Thomas Hubbard Bathing Rooms [ex Wood]

Bettison and Son Hawley Square Library [Book plate 1840]

Bill 1810 London Millinery Rooms No 5 Cecil Square

Charlotte Square 20 Mrs Lilian Pilcher dinning rooms 1935

Circus poster 1855 near Mulberry Tree

Clifton Baths Price Card

19 June 2022

Margate Postcards

The Hydro Hotel, Eastern Esplanade

Eastern Esplanade and Oval Bandstand 1957

Edgar Road Greylands Hotel

Fort Hill 1959

Top end of Fort Hill, viewed from Winter Gardens

Gore and Gore, Stationers, 18 Cliff Terrace

Surrey Road No 20 The Greswolde interior

Surrey Road No 22 Richmond

5 June 2022

Coronation Events

Cecil Square Proclamation of King George V 1910

Cecil Square Proclamation of King George V 1910

Cecil Square Coronation King George V 1911

Cecil Square Coronation King George V 1911

Isle of Thanet Tramway decorated for Coronation 1911

Eagle Steamers and Queen Line Sailings from Margate and Ramsgate. Coronation May 1937

Drapers Farmhouse decorated for the Coronation of George VI 1937

Queen Street Bobbys decorated for Coronation 1953

Cecil Square bus stand decorated for Coronation 1953

Cecil Square bus stand decorated for Coronation 1953

Dane Hill Row Coronation street party Certificate

Milton Avenue Coronation street party 1953

Silver Jubilee naming of Margate Lifeboat 1979

Silver Jubilee naming of Margate Lifeboat 1979

Silver Jubilee naming of Margate Lifeboat 1979

Silver Jubilee naming of Margate Lifeboat 1979

22 May 2022

Dreamland Advertising Booklet ca 1931

Dreamland advertising booklet ca 1931

Page 1

Dreamland Flower Gardens

The New Dreamland

The New Arcade

The New Amusement Park

Reconstructions

Reconstructions

Catering Facilities

The Garden Cafe

The New Dreamland Amusement Park

8 May 2022

Dreamland Catering 1934

Margate Estates Co pamphlet [1934]

Specimen Menus

Dreamland New kitchen one of three

Dreamland dining hall laid for 1000

Dreamland dining hall seats 550

Dreamland dining hall seats 500

Dreamland dining hall laid for 500

Dreamland dining hall laid for 250

Dreamland dining hall seats 250

Dreamland dining hall seats 500

The New Dreamland

24 April 2022

Margate Stereocards

Pier from Fort [Blanchard ca 1860]

Bathing Machines at Ramsgate [Blanchard]

No Mans Land [James Stodart]

Margate Harbour [opaline stereocard]

Clocktower, pre-tram [Henry Borton]

Clocktower with tram [Wheeler & Son Kentish Views]

Jetty [Wheeler & Son Kentish Views]

Marine Drive [Wheeler& Son Kentish Views]

10 April 2022

Margate Stereocards

Marine Terrace and Iron Bridge [H Goodman]

Upper Marine Terrace and bridge

Marine Terrace [Valentine Blanchard Stereos of Margate]

Dusk; sailing ships in harbour

St Johns Church interior before erection of screen

St Johns Church

Trinity Church [London Photographic]

Trinity Church [photographer, Cheney of Beckenham ]

27 March 2022

Valentine & Co. Collotypes (Part 2)

Clock Tower (and tram) ]25650 JV]

Lifeboat Memorial [35951 JV]

Margate from Buenos Ayres (with tram) [36548 JV]

Margate Sands (front of railway station) [256757 JV]

Marine Terrace Clocktower (and tram) [25649 JV]

Newgate Gapway [25664 JV]

The Fort [25666 JV]

The Sands [25658 JV]

Westbrook beach (Sea Bathing Hospital) [36549 JV]

13 March 2022

Valentine & Co. Collotypes (Part 1)

Cliftonville from High Cliff [25652 JV]

Lifeboat Memorial [35952 JV]

Margate Sands [25660 JV]

Newgate Gap [25663 JV]

SeaView Westbrook [38147 JV]

The Jetty [25655 JV]

The Oval [36546 JV]

The Park [37737 JV Giant Postcard]

The Park, back of the Giant Postcard [6.5 x 9 inches]

COLLOTYPES. As well as the photochromes already described (13 February 2022), black and white prints were also available from the 1890s, of the same size as the photochromes (6.5 x 9 inches) and also printed on thin paper with blank backs. As with the photochromes, they would be bought mostly by holiday makers, to be kept in albums. They were gradually replaced by the smaller postcards which, after 1902 in Britain, were printed with divided backs allowing them to be sent though the post, with the address and a message written on the back. Black and white prints were produced either by photolithography or by the collotype process. The lithographic process was basically the same as that used to produce photochromes, but with a single colour, printed from a limestone printing block. It involved breaking the original photographic image into a series of dots (halftone printing) and this can sometime be used to identify a photolithograph, although a lack of regular spacing of the dots can make it difficult. The collotype process is very similar, except that in this process a lithographic stone or a metal or glass plate was coated with a light-sensitive gelatine solution rather than with bitumen, and, when hardened by exposure to light, gave a network of fine cracks. A collotype viewed through a magnifying glass appears as a mosaic of similarly sized pieces of irregular shapes, ‘like a bowl of macaroni noodles’ [Reference]). The final result is a print with tonal gradations similar to those of the original photograph. Large black and white view cards with undivided backs seem all to be collotypes. Valentine’s Co. Ltd. of Dundee (J.V.) were major producers of these cards in the period from the 1890’s until about 1902 [Reference]. The view of Margate Jetty shows the walkway on the right with a barrier between the Jetty and the walkway and with much of the decking of the walkway missing, dating the view to after the storm of November 1897. The view of Dane Park was issued both as a paper print and as a ‘Giant Post Card’.

27 February 2022

Photos of Old Margate

Shoe Shine The Parade in front of Hoy hotel c1895

2 Andrews Place, demolished in the mid to late 1930s [thanks to David Pointer]

Belle Steamers (inc John Herbert Pointer with moustache) [thanks to David Pointer]

Belle Steamers poster [thanks to David Pointer]

Fort Green Cliffs and Shelter

Fort Green Bandstand and Path

Norfolk Road Courtlands Hotel 1909

Norfolk Road Courtlands Hotel 1909

13 February 2022

Photochromes of Margate (1893-4)

Beach and ladies' bathing place]

Kingsgate Castle

The Fort

The Gap

The harbour

The harbour

The jetty

The jetty

The promenade

The Beach

PHOTOCHROMES: In the 1880’s a Swiss chemist, Hans Jakob Schmid, invented a process by which coloured prints could be made from black and white photographic negatives. The process involved preparing a set of limestone printing blocks, one for each of the six or more colours to be used in producing the final print. Each stone would be used to print one specific colour, and combining all these colours gave the final print. The process started with the making of a reversed halftone negative from the original negative (in a halftone the original image is replaced by a series of discrete dots) which was then hand colored according to sketches and notes taken at the scene. The next step was to prepare a printing block by coating a smooth limestone block with a thin layer of bitumen on top of which was placed the half tone negative. Daylight was passed through a coloured filter and the half tone negative, onto the printing block. Regions of bitumen exposed to the light hardened and became resistant to the turpentine solutions used to wash away the unhardened bitumen. The appropriate coloured inks were then used with each of the plates to print the final coloured image. A photochrome can always be recognized by looking at the image through a magnifying glass, when the small coloured dots making up the image can be seen (although these are much less obvious than the regular pattern of dots seen in half-tone pictures in newspapers etc.)

The photochrome process was first employed commercially by a Swiss firm, Photochrom Zurich, and was licensed out in the mid-1890s to the Detroit Photographic Company in the United States and the Photochrome Company in London. The Catalogue of the Detroit Publishing Company lists nine photochromes of Margate [Reference], but there are at least ten. They were printed on thin paper with blank backs, and all were about 6.5 x 9 inches. It was expected that they would be purchased by visitors to holiday towns, to be preserved in albums or put on display at home. Photochromes were produced from about 1890 to the early 1900s when the market was taken over by coloured postcards. The Margate photochromes can be dated more precisely to 1893-1894 because of the colours of the funnel of the Royal Sovereign in the picture of the Jetty (The Jetty II). The Royal Sovereign was built in 1893 and operated by the Victoria Steamboat Association (VSA). The VSA painted the funnels of its paddleboats red with a black top, separated by two white bands, as in the picture. However, after the 1894 season the VSA collapsed and was replaced by the New Palace Seamers Co. who repainted the funnels a plain buff colour [Reference]. Also of help in dating these prints is the walkway on the right of the Jetty leading to Cold Harbour. The walkway was damaged during the storm of November 1897 and, when rebuilt, had a barrier between the Jetty and the walkway with much of the decking of the walkway missing.

30 January 2022

Margate Public Houses and Inns

Poster Hoy Hotel [Julia Stevens]

Dog and Duck Canterbury Road sketch

Dog and Duck Canterbury Road Restaurant

Dog and Duck Canterbury Road Tarif

Fort Hill The Britannia advertising card

Fort Hill The Brittania 1962

Garlinge Canterbury Road The Hussar

Station Road Flag and Whistle 1962

16 January 2022

Postcards of Margate

Canterbury Road No 26

Cecil Square Hippodrome, The Mikado, Gilbert and Sullivan 1908

Dreamland gardens, Shade and Sunshine

Fort Crescent Fort Lodge Hotel

Fort Crescent Fort Lodge 1926

Fort Road Arcadian Hotel 1905

Marine Terrace and sands

The Rendezvous Walk and Winter Gardens

9 January 2022

Albumin Photographs of Margate

Harbour entrance and Metropole Hotel

Jetty entrance and camera obscura

Jetty with two lifeboat ramps

Marine Terrace pre trams ca 1890s

Marine Terrace sands with bathing carts

Marine Terrace sands with bathing carts

Marine Terrace sands with minstrels

Harbour at low tide

12 December 2021

The Album of Margate Views [Part 2]

The Parade

Royal Crescent

St Johns Church

The Pier

Trinity Church

Upper Granville Terrace and Shaftsbury House

Westgate panorama

Kingsgate Captain Digby

28 November 2021

The Album of Margate Views [Part 1]

Seamen's Observatory and Marine Palace

View from Pier with Marine Palace in background

Cliftonville Hotel

Fort Crescent

Jetty Pavilion

Marine Drive and Albert Terrace

Marine Drive

Parade and Droit House

Books of steel line-engraved vignettes had disappeared by about 1880, at which time real photographs were still relatively expensive and the picture postcard had not yet arrived. This left a gap in the market which was filled by the rather unsatisfactory sepia-tinted ‘photo-lithographs’, printed on coated paper and largely produced in Lower Saxony, Germany. These photo-lithographs usually have an essentially photographic base to which has been added hand-working, giving a picture with the appearance of both a photograph and a drawing. They were issued in the form of a long concertina-folded sheet of prints, bound between two boards, known as Leporello albums, named after Don Giovanni's servant in Mozart's opera, who kept a lengthy concertina list of his master's conquests. The inclusion of pictures of The Marine Palace shows that this particular album was printed after about 1884 when the Palace opened and before December 1897, when the Palace was destroyed in a storm. More Leporello albums can be seen here

14 November 2021

Margate Postcards

Beatrice Road

Marine Terrace and Bathing Pavilion Aerial View

Palm Bay with bathing tents

Palm Bay bathing station

Palm Bay Gardens and Bowling Green 1954

Royal Sea Bathing Infirmary aerial view

Royal Sea Bathing Infirmary aerial view

Wilderness Hill Princess Mary's Convalescent Home

31 October 2021

Albumin Prints of Margate

Fort Cliffs ca 1870s before Marine Palace

Fort Cliffs ca 1870s before Marine Palace

Marine Palace from sea ca 1890s

St Johns Church ca 1870s

Marine Terrace sands ca 1870s

Marine Terrace ca 1890s after clocktower but before trams

Kingsgate and castle ca 1870s

Kingsgate and castle ca 1870s

17 October 2021

Photographs of Margate [late 1930s]

Botany Bay [Sweetman]

Lewis Avenue Bowling Green [Sweetman]

Northumberland Avenue Northumberland Hotel [Sweetman]

Palm Bay and Hodges Bridge [Sweetman]

Palm Bay Gapway Hodges Bridge [Sweetman]

Palm Bay with Bathing Huts [Sweetman]

Winter Gardens [Sweetman]

Winter Gardens [Sweetman]

This set of photographs are stamped "E.A. Sweetman & Son Ltd, Sunshine Works, Tunbridge Wells" and Sweetman and Son published the Sunshine Series of Postcards. These photographs probably date from the late 1930s as the Northumberland Hotel was built in 1935, but it is unclear whether or not they were ever published as postcards.

3 October 2021

Postcards of Margate

Eastern Esplanade Cliftonville Hydro [1905 LL]

Eastern Esplanade opposite Oval [1950s or 60s]

Eastern Esplanade Oval [publisher Bowen]

Eastern Esplanade St George's Hotel at night

Eastern Esplanade The Oval [Marin Series 1912]

Harbour [Polden and Hogben Aug 1911]

Jetty Entrance Storm 1913

Jetty with Camera Obscura and weighing machine [Aug 1908]

19 September 2021

Postcards of Margate

King Street George Hotel with charabanc outside

Tivoli Gardens 1929

Tivoli Road Alexandra Homes

Royal Crescent Nayland Rock

Royal Esplanade Sunken gardens Westbrook

Royal Esplanade Sunken Gardens 1965

Westbrook Road Stoke Lea Guest House 1975

Westcliffe Gardens Westbrook

5 September 2021

Photographs of Margate courtesy of Chris Sandwell and the Shields family

Mechanical Elephant, promenade by Winter Gardens 1950s

Mechanical Elephant, promenade by Winter Gardens 1950s

Mechanical Elephant, promenade by Winter Gardens 1950s

Mechanical Elephant, promenade by Winter Gardens 1950s

Walmer Castle Pub and Mill Lane Circa 1910

Harry Barnes Shields AFS WW2 Harold Road

Harry Barnes Shields AFS WW2 King Street

Margate AFS WW2 Alexandra Road

22 August 2021

Postcards of Margate

Dalby Square Severn House Hotel

Dalby Square Windsor Hotel [Advertising card]

Fort Green Bandstand Aug 1911

Fort Promenade Athol Lodge 1962

Lewis Avenue and Bowling Greens [Fifth Avenue on right]

Royal Crescent Hollywood [probably now Holywood Court Nos 10-11]

Winter Gardens and Pavilion 1938

Winter Gardens and Fort Crescent

8 August 2021

Postcards of Margate

Alexandra Road [Northdown Road] No 48 William George Holton hairdresser

Alexandra Road [Northdown Road] St Pauls 1929

Cliff Terrace and Lido 1913

Lido Lawn Cafe May 1968

Lido View of pool and cafe

Northdown Road

Northdown Road with Tram 1911

Northdown Road Ye Old Charles Inn with coach and horses

25 July 2021

Old Margate

Trinity Church Interior [sterero]

Shottenden [stereo]

Fort Crescent with Goat cart [Twyman stereo]

Sands and Jetty [stereo]

Entrance to the Harbour, watercolour by George Keate ca 1780, showing jetty along the Parade and the bridge over the future King Street

Officer Cinque Port Volunteers ca 1794-1800 [Watercolour by Charles Stadden] Francis Cobb sen. and Francis Cobb jun. were the Officers of the First and Second Company of Margate Volunteers during the Napoleonic Wars

Marine Library and Bathing Room High Street [Engraving ca 1830s]

Royal York Hotel Marine Parade Receipt 1864

11 July 2021

Margate Postcards

Cliff Terrace and Lido

Dane Park and Lake 1962

Eastern Esplanade Cliftonville Hydro 1914

Eastern Esplanade Cliftonville Hydro 1907

Harold Road Connaught Lodge

Lewis Crescent Granville Court Hotel

Royal Crescent 1908 [LL]

Trinity Square Vortigern Smuggler's Caves

27 June 2021

Margate Postcards

Eastern Esplanade and Oval

Edgar Road Glenwood line

Ethelbert Crescent View from Durley Deane 1918

Ethelbert Crescent view to Newgate Promenade

Lido Lawn Cafe

Queens Promenade and Bungalow 1911

Walpole Bay Bathing station

Walpole Bay 1910s

13 June 2021

Margate Postcards

Albert Terrace and upper Marine Terrace 1921

Droit House and Harbour

Flint Row

Marine Terrace Sands

Queens Promenade and Lewis Crescent

St Johns Church St Georges Chapel

Launching The Lifeboat at Margate

Dreamland Miniature Railway and Station [Photograph]

30 May 2021

Margate Postcards

College Road St Augustines

Fort Crescent Winter Gardens 1962

Marine Drive and Beach 1963

Newgate Gap Pettmans Bathing Station

Palm Bay Looking East 1928

Royal Crescent Nayland Rock Hotel 1945

Second Avenue [Bells PC]

Sweyn Road Riverdale [interior views]

16 May 2021

CDVs of Margate Storm of 1877

Pier and Jetty 1859-1861 [CDV, Sedgfield; dates thanks to Chris Sandwell]

Damaged Jetty Storm 1877 [Byrne]

Damaged Jetty Storm 1877 [Byrne]

Damaged Jetty Storm 1877 [Byrne]

Damaged Jetty Storm 1877 [Byrne]

Back of High Street Storm 1877 [Byrne]

Ships ashore off Margate Storm 1877 [Byrne]

Ships ashore off Margate Storm 1877 [Byrne]

Further information about the storm of 24 November 1877 and the photographer, Joseph Byrne of 43 High Street, Margate, is available at Margate Storms

2 May 2021

Pictures and Postcards

Northdown Road 1984

Northdown Road, Smallbone Interiors

High Street Margate Shops

High Street Margate Shops

Harbour [LL Panorama]

H Hobday Grocer van, 89 High Street

Bowkett baker, 132 High Street

Wanstall Butcher, 82 High Street

18 April 2021

Margate Demolished

Queen Street, Guys No 9

Queen Street, Advance Laundry No 10

Queen Street, Heyes No 11

Queen Street, Adams No 12

Mill Lane Development Area 17 November 1969

Mill Lane Development Area 16 December 1969

Mill Lane Development Area 1 January 1970

Mill Lane Development Area 1 January 1970

4 April 2021

Some Margate Photographs

Grosvenor Place upper end

Margate Station Signal Box

Margate Station Water Tower 1970s

Dreamland Coach Park and Scenic Railway

Model Village in front of Butlins Queens Hotel 1960s

Model Village in front of Butlins Queens Hotel 1960s

Newgate Gap Pettmans Bathing Stage August 1919

Newgate Gap Pettmans Bathing Stage taken from bathing machine August 1919

21 March 2021

Plans for Margate

Proposed Harbour of refuge {Edmunds 1839]

Proposed Jetty extension [Thanet Guardian 1871]

Proposed Kursaal Building [Pyramidical syndicate; 1897]

Proposed Kursaal building [East Kent Times March 1905]

Margate Golf Links Company share certificate 1899

Sale of Kursaal Site 1911

Poster Fort Road Improvements 1934

Plan of Fort Road Improvements

7 March 2021

Some Stereographs of Margate

Grotto [Twyman & Son Ramsgate, Views of the Isle of Thanet]

Kingsgate Castle

Kingsgate Castle [T Wheeler]

Kingsgate Folly near The Captain Digby [London Photographic]

The Captain Digby [A Moore, Fort Parade]

Kingsgate view at Captain Digby

Shipping in the harbour

Harbour at low tide [June 1877]

21 February 2021

Some Tunbridge Ware pictures of Margate

Assembly Room Cecil Square

Bettisons Library Hawley Square

Bettisons Library Hawley Square interior

Landing Place

Margate Pier

Pier at Margate

Ranelagh Gardens St Peters

Ranelagh Gardens St Peters

These small prints, typically ca. 3 ins. by 2 ins., were produced by G. Wise and others in Tunbridge Wells, around 1806. Many were incorporated into wood turned souvenirs, boxes, Tea Caddies and other objects, or sold separately as small pictures for visitors. They are known to have been sold in the Libraries at Margate: Samuel Bettison, Hawley Square; William Bettison, High Street; Thomas Bousfield & Thomas Pallister, Cecil Square; Joseph Hall, Hawley Square; Samuel Silver; Cecil Square; George Witherden, Marine Parade. (Tunbridge Ware by Brian Austen, foulsham, 3rd ed., 2001)

7 February 2021

Some Margate Photographs

The Parade and Paradise Street before the trams

View of the Fort after destruction of Marine Palace

Marine Terrace c1890

Eaton Road junction with Marine Gardens

Trinity Church ruins July 1957 [View from bedroom window]

Trinity Church ruins July 1957 [View from bedroom window]

Astoria Northdown Road

Astoria April 1934

24 January 2021

Some Margate Postcards

Eastern Esplanade Wishing Towers 1987

Edgar Road Rhonallea Hotel 1965

Harbour Chilrens Boating Pool

Hatfield Road Clyffe House

New Street New Inn and troops 1915

Norfolk Road Wentworth Hotel

St Andrew's House Price's Avenue No 12 1907

Trinity Square Northdown Road junction

10 January 2021

Some Margate Postcards

Approach Road No 17 Reculver 1909

Queens Gardens Butlins Queens Highcliffe Hotel

Queens Gardens Butlins Queen Highcliffe Hotel Dolphinarium

Queens Gardens Butlins Queens Highcliffe Hotel Dolphinarium

Eastern Esplanade Oval 1908

Eastern Esplanade Kingscliffe St Georges and Norfolk Hotels 1953

Eastern Esplanade Butlins Grand Hotel Ballroom

Ethelbert Crescent Thanet Hunt Meeeting January 1913