Ramsgate

Ramsgate, a watering-place and seaport of Kent, in the south-east of the Isle of Thanet, 72 miles E. by S. of London, 4 SSE. of Margate, and 15 ENE. of Canterbury. From a small fishing-village it began to increase in importance during the 18th century through successful trade with 'Russia and the East country,' and through the formation here (1750-95) of a harbour of refuge for the Downs. That harbour, 51 acres in extent, with a sea-entrance 250 feet wide, is enclosed on the east and west by two piers 670 and 520 yards long. The aspect of the place, which George Eliot calls 'a strip of London come out for an airing,' is familiar through Frith's 'Ramsgate Sands' (1854); among its special features are an obelisk marking the spot where George IV. in 1821 embarked for Hanover, an iron promenade pier (1881), the fine Granville Hotel, a beautiful Roman Catholic church by the Pugins, a Benedictine monastery, college, and convent, and a Jewish synagogue and college, erected by Sir Moses Montefiore, who, like the elder Pugin, was a resident. To the north is Broadstairs (q.v.), beloved of Dickens; and to the west Pegwell Bay, with Ebbsfleet, the landing-place of St Augustine, and also, traditionally, of Hengist and Horsa. Here, too, is Osengall Hill, with an early Saxon cemetery. Ramsgate was incorporated in 1884. Pop. (1851) 11,838; (1881) 22,683; (1891) 24,676. See James Simson's Historic Thant (1891).