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Margate

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Geography of Great
Britain

                   Margate

   Image:dot4gb.svg
                  Statistics
   Population:          58,465 (2001 census)
               Ordnance Survey
   OS grid reference:   TR355705
                Administration
   District:            Thanet
   Shire county:        Kent
   Region:              South East England
   Constituent country: England
   Sovereign state:     United Kingdom
                    Other
   Ceremonial county:   Kent
   Historic county:     Kent
                   Services
   Police force:        {{{Police}}}
   Fire and rescue:     {{{Fire}}}
   Ambulance:           South East Coast
          Post office and telephone
   Post town:           MARGATE
   Postal district:     CT9
   Dialling code:       01843
                   Politics
   UK Parliament:       Thanet North
   European Parliament: South East England

   Margate is a town in the district known as the Isle of Thanet (though
   no longer an island) in Kent, England (population about 60,000). Its
   name was recorded as "Meregate" in 1264 and as "Margate" in 1299, but
   the spelling continued to vary into modern times. The name is thought
   to refer to a pool gate or gap in a cliff where pools of water are
   found, often allowing swimmers to jump in. The cliffs of the Isle of
   Thanet are composed of chalk, a fossil-bearing rock.

History

Cinque Ports

   Margate was a "limb" of Dover in the ancient confederation of the
   Cinque ports. It was added to the confederation in the 15th century.

Margate and the Sea

   Margate has been a leading seaside resort for at least 250 years. Like
   its neighbour Ramsgate, it has been a traditional holiday destination
   for Londoners drawn to its sandy beaches.

   Edward Hasted, writing in the 18th century, described Margate as a
   "poor fishing town", but in 1810, when describing the shore, he wrote:
   "... [it] was so well adapted to bathing, being an entire level and
   covered with the finest sand, which extends for several miles on either
   side of the harbour... [near which] there are several commodious
   bathing rooms, out of which the bathers are driven in the machines, any
   depth along the sands into the sea; at the back of the machine is a
   door, through which the bathers descend a few steps into the water, and
   an umbrella of canvas dropping over conceals them from the public view.
   Upwards of 40 of these machines are frequently employed..."

   The town's history is tied closely to the sea and it has a proud
   maritime tradition. The record of the vessel, Friend to all Nations,
   and the Margate Surfboat disaster of 1897 are noteworthy events in
   Margate's past.

Steamboats

   About 1816 The Times reported that the introduction of steamboats had
   given the whole coast of Kent (and) the Isle of Thanet in particular,
   "a prodigious lift". However, Sir Rowland Hill (creator of the 1840
   Penny Post), while in Thanet during 1815, remarked: "It is surprising
   to see how most people are prejudiced against this packet." So popular
   were the steam boat excursions that in 1841 there were six different
   companies competing for the Margate passenger traffic. Even with the
   advent of the railway in 1846 the steamboats continued in service until
   their final withdrawal in 1967.

   In 1820 it was said that "the inhabitants of Margate ought to eulogise
   the name of Watt, as the founder of their good fortune; and steam
   vessels as the harbingers of their prosperity".

Railways

   The railway came to Margate via two separate companies. The South
   Eastern Railway (SER) was the first to reach the town when its branch
   line from the main line at Ashford, having opened to Ramsgate on April
   13 1846, was continued to a station called Margate Sands on 1 December
   the same year. It was not direct, however: trains had to reverse from
   the terminus at Ramsgate to reach Margate. In spite of that, crowds of
   people added to the already high numbers coming by sea. The SER had the
   rail monopoly until 5 October 1863, the London, Chatham and Dover
   Railway completed its North Kent coast line and opened a station at
   Margate West. Once the Southern Railway had been formed, in 1923, there
   was a major rationalisation of the Isle of Thanet railways: the old
   route from Ramsgate was closed completely and a new railway connection,
   looping round the Isle of Thanet, meant that trains could pass through
   the town from either direction. Margate West (renamed simply Margate)
   Station became the only railway station in the town.

Margate Jetty

   Margate Jetty, which was designed by Eugenius Birch in 1856, has
   suffered damage from the sea over the years. On 1 January 1877 it was
   sliced through by a storm-driven wreck that marooned 40 to 50 people.
   They were not rescued until the next day. The pier survived until 11-12
   January 1978, when it was hit by another storm. The wreck of the pier
   remained for several years, surviving several attempts to blow it up,
   before final demolition.

Wherries

   Between 1890 and 1939 about 30 pleasure boats operated from Margate
   beach. The main builder of these Thanet wherries was Brockman's of
   Margate, which turned them out in large numbers before the Great War.
   It developed two distinct types of boats: the wherry proper, with high
   sides, and the wherry punt, with low sides. The hulls were
   traditionally varnished, a practice employed by boatmen from Thanet to
   Devon. Some boatmen put a wider beam into the design to assist fishing.
   Although employing a clinker-built hull, the shape was similar to the
   Deal galley and the Thames waterman's skiff.

   The last wherry in service at Margate was operated by a Dusty Miller of
   Westgate-on-Sea (a suburb of Margate), and built by an apprentice at
   Brockman's of Margate in 1939. "She was only about 12 ft long and being
   small was sometimes called a skiff."

Margate during the Second World War

   It was on September 3, 1940, that pilot officer Richard Hillary was
   shot down during combat against three Messerschmitts into the sea near
   the North Foreland, but had the good fortune to be rescued by Margate
   lifeboat. His Spitfire had burst into flames and he was badly burned,
   but later wrote the book The Last Enemy. Hillary, the grandson of the
   founder of the lifeboat service (Sir William Hillary, d. 1852),
   recovered from his ordeal, but was killed in a training flight accident
   in 1943, aged 24.

   Howard Primrose Knight, coxswain of the Ramsgate lifeboat Prudential,
   and Edward Drake Parker, coxswain of the Margate lifeboat Lord
   Southborough were both awarded the Distinguished Service Medal in
   recognition of their gallantry and determination when ferrying troops
   from the beaches of Dunkirk during the evacuation of 1940.

   The lifeboats had assisted in retrieving at least 2,800 men, by towing
   eight wherries, during a continuous service lasting 40 hours. Following
   this achievement the Margate boat returned to Dunkirk to rescue 500-600
   French soldiers from the beach.

   In a letter to the RNLI, the Commander of HMS Icarus stated: "The
   manner in which the Margate lifeboat crew brought off load after load
   of soldiers under continuous shelling, bombing and aerial machinegun
   fire, will be an inspiration to us all as long as we live."

Storm of 1949

   The storm of early March 1949 caused widespread damage in Margate and
   along the North Kent Coast. Kent Fire Brigade estimated that it took
   1,550 man hours to fight the floods which had devastated Kent in the
   previous two weeks. The high tide caused flooding at various points
   between Margate and Crayford. The tidal surge swept down the North Sea,
   into the Thames Estuary and up the river valleys, reaching 15 miles
   inland. So bad was the flooding that Chatham, Rochester, Strood, Upnor
   Gravesend, Sheerness, Sittingbourne, Faversham, Herne Bay, Whitstable,
   Dover and Margate were declared one incident. BBC Kent Weather.

Tourism

   Margate was the first resort to have donkey rides, in 1890, and the
   first to introduce deck chairs, in 1898.

   Like Brighton, it was infamous for gang violence between mods and
   rockers in the 1960s.

   In recent times it has had higher unemployment rates than much of
   south-east England, as tourists travel further afield.

   Margate faces major structural redevelopments. Its Dreamland Amusement
   Park (featured in one extended episode of the television series Only
   Fools and Horses) is losing money and is threatened with closure, and
   in 2003 a huge fire destroyed much of its seafront frontage. In 2004 it
   was announced that Dreamland (although somewhat reduced in its
   amusements) would reopen for three months of the summer; a pressure
   group has been formed to keep it in being. The group is anxious that
   the UK's oldest wooden roller coaster, The Scenic Railway, a Grade II
   Listed structure, is retained.

   Other attractions - Cliftonville next to Margate has a classic British
   Arnold Palmer seaside mini golf course.

   A controversial gallery, The Turner Contemporary has been proposed, as
   an alternative to Margate's traditional tourist trade, and when built
   it would have formed part of the harbour itself. Some critics, however,
   questioned the prudence of placing part of Britain's national art
   treasures in a spot that is exposed to the full fury of the North Sea.
   Thanet District Council have now moved the building from the harbour
   wall, to a plot of land adjacent to the harbour. This is due to
   spiralling costs for a sea born building. Work is still set to start in
   2007, with projected completion in 2009. The scheme had been supported
   by the artist Tracey Emin, who was brought up in Margate.

   Two films by Tracey Emin, CV Cunt Vernacular (1997) and Top Spot
   (2004), are set in the town. Also, the play Hannah and Hanna by John
   Retallack is set in Margate. First premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe in
   2001, it tells of the impact on the town had by an influx of Kosovan
   refugees.

   The harbour area was also used in a music video by Chas and Dave for
   their song "Margate" (on their album Joblot) in 1982.

   There are two notable theatres, the Theatre Royal in Addington Street -
   the second oldest theatre in the country - and the Tom Thumb Theatre,
   the 2nd smallest in the country, in addition to the Winter Gardens.

   An annual jazz festival takes place over the course of a weekend in
   July.

   Margate Museum in Market Place explores the town's seaside heritage in
   a range of exhibits and displays.

   The Shell Grotto, which has walls and roof covered in elaborate
   decoration of over four million shells, covering 2,000 square feet, in
   complex patterns, was rediscovered in 1835, but is of unknown age and
   origin.

   In addition there is a Tudor House in King Street.

   Margate features as a destination in Graham Swift's novel Last Orders
   and the movie made version of it. Jack Dodds has asked to have his
   remains scattered at Margate. The book tells the tale of the drive to
   Margate and the memories evoked on the way. It also features at the
   start and as a recurrent theme in Iain Aitch's travelogue A Fete Worse
   Than Death. The author was born in the town.

   In Big Brother 7 (2006), Big Brother briefly went on holiday to Margate
   and left the housemates under the rule of Automated Big Brother.

Local Areas

   Margate also consists of Cliftonville, and Palm Bay, UK

Affiliations

   Margate is twinned with the following cities:
     * Ukraine Yalta, Ukraine
     * Germany Idar-Oberstein, Germany

Football

   Margate F.C. is one of the most famous football teams in non-league
   football. They play at Hartsdown Park. The club has played in the
   Conference National, but they are currently aiming to gain promotion
   out of the Isthmian League Premier Division.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margate"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
