Westgate-on-Sea

Westgate-on-Sea

Westgate-on-Sea is a seaside town and civil parish in northeast Kent, England, with a population of 6,996 at the 2011 Census. It is within the Thanet local government district and borders the larger seaside resort of Margate. Residents have included the 19th-century surgeon Sir Erasmus Wilson and former archbishop of Canterbury William Temple.

About Westgate-on-Sea in brief

Summary Westgate-on-SeaWestgate-on-Sea is a seaside town and civil parish in northeast Kent, England, with a population of 6,996 at the 2011 Census. It is within the Thanet local government district and borders the larger seaside resort of Margate. The town is notable for once being the location of a Royal Naval Air Service seaplane base at St Mildred’s Bay, which defended the Thames Estuary coastal towns during World War I. Residents have included the 19th-century surgeon Sir Erasmus Wilson and former archbishop of Canterbury William Temple. In the early 20th century, the remains of a Roman villa were discovered in what is now Beach Road, where a stream once used to flow. Fresh water can still be seen rising from the sand at low tide. In later years roman villa in the feild surrounding Westgate has also been found with strong archaeological evidence of roman activity between quex Park East Side and dent de loin towers. The Coronation Bandstand was built by the cliff edge in 1903, to celebrate the coronation of King Edward VII. The following year, a group of French nuns were banned from teaching in France, and established the Ursuline Convent School, which was re-established in 1995. The school was opened by John Vine Milne, the father of the author A. A. Milne. Old Doctor Who actor Jon Pertwee and cabinet minister John Profumo, for his involvement in the Profumo affair, attended the school.

The composer Arnold Cooke attended the town’s Streete Preparatory School. Eton headmaster Anthony Chenevix-Trench spent the earliest few years of his education in the town. A school, Westgate College, was established in 1877 by William Bullock. It was renamed Ringslow College in 1879 and closed in 1885. It closed in 1970 and was demolished in 1972 in the wake of the 1972 Schoolgirl scandal. In 1894, the school was reopened by John Milne and it was known as Streete Court School. It opened in 1894 and was known in the 1894 for its association with the writer A. M. A Philnene, who was a pupil at the school from 1894 to 1894. In 1995, it was reopened as Ursuline Convent School and it is still open to this day. The church was built in 1872 by the architect C. N. Beazley. The parish churches of St. James and St. Saviour were also built in the late 19th century. A railway station, in 1871, led to the rapid expansion of the population, which reached 2,738 by 1901. A stretch of sea wall, with promenade on top, was constructed around the beaches. The land divided into plots to be sold for what would become an exclusive development by the sea for wealthy metropolitan families within a gated community, rather than for occasional tourists.