TOWNSPOTLIGHT
Spotlight on
BROADSTAIRS
PHOTOS © THANET DISTRICT COUNCIL
Picture the scene: BEAUTIFUL SANDY BEACHES, A HIGH STREET WITH MORE INDEPENDENT SHOPS AND RESTAURANTS THAN ANYTHING ELSE, FESTIVALS AND EVENTS TAKING PLACE ALL YEAR ROUND, AND ALL OF THIS SITUATED IN THE BUCOLIC COUNTY OF KENT. YOU’ VE JUST IMAGINED BROADSTAIRS – AND IT’ S ALL REAL.
Bleak House Museum
Botany Bay Dickens House Museum
HISTORY IN BRIEF
Broadstairs was Bradstow originally, which means‘ broad place’. This was in 1080 when the town was first established and the broad place described is more than likely to be the wide, beautiful bay that is so iconic. In the 14th century, the name Broadstairs first appeared and this relates to the flight of steps which were cut into the cliff sides so that pilgrims could visit the Shrine of Our Lady, which had been built at the top of the cliffs themselves. And so Broadstairs and its shrine was established.
It was this shrine that made the town what it is. Due to the influx of visitors, many tradespeople and merchants started to move to the area. Soon, they moved in permanently. From a small fishing village, an important and popular seaside town grew up.
THINGS TO DO
Joss Bay Of all the wonderful, award-winning beaches in Broadstairs, Joss Bay is often thought of as the most popular. It was named after Joss Snelling, notorious smuggler, but far from its rather dubious past it is now the ideal place to spend a day with the family. Try surfing – the Joss Bay Surf School offer a variety of different lessons – swimming, paddling, hunting for fossils, strolling along the beachfront, or anything else that makes you relax and feel happy.
Crampton Tower Museum The Crampton Tower Museum is housed in a flint tower that used to be part of the Broadstairs public water supply. The museum is dedicated to the life and works of Thomas Russell Crampton, who was a designer of trains and railways, as well as water works, gas works, and the submarine telegraph cable.
Within the museum you can see some of Crampton’ s models and drawings, the original 1860 Broadstairs stagecoach, awards and artefacts, and working model railways.
Bleak House Museum Bleak House was the one-time holiday haunt of Charles Dickens, and here you can see exactly where the great man dreamt up David Copperfield, as well as the first chapters of Bleak House itself. Within the house, which dates back to 1801, is the Smuggling Museum. The exhibits here were mainly brought back by scuba divers who explored a shipwreck that occurred in Viking Bay in the 18th century.
Dickens House Museum Within Dickens House you will find a number of items that belonged to the famous author himself, as well as letters and a description of how Broadstairs used to be.
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