What physical evidence for Ramsgate’s original late eighteenth and early nineteenth Century Sea – bathing and holiday making activities can you still see around you today?
Hannah Sawyer
10B6
History coursework
. What physical evidence for Ramsgate's original late eighteenth and early nineteenth Century Sea - bathing and holiday making activities can you still see around you today?
Along Ramsgate seafront there are numerous large houses, which in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century were used as holiday homes for the many rich holidaymakers who were attracted to Ramsgate for a summer break. Examples of these houses are in Nelson's Crescent or Wellington Crescent, which is a crescent shape block of houses that look out over the sea. Houses 13,16 and 18 of Wellington Crescent can be placed in the late eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century because they all have typical architectural features from the Georgian period - pediments above the door, large stone pillars, fanlight windows, fanned brickwork, sash windows, iron railings and verandas or balconies.
Fanned brickwork - Sash windows -
(Bottom half of window slides up inside top half)
Iron décor and railings -
The occupants of these houses would have sat on the balconies and taken in the beautiful sea view. They would have been fairly rich to afford a holiday home along Wellington Crescent and they would have been delighted at the chance to parade up and down outside their holiday homes to show off their expensive clothes. Parading at the front of the house would also have given the rich homeowners a chance to meet other people of the same class doing the same. As sea bathing and breathing in the sea air were fashionable at that time they would have also wanted to breathe in the sea air to improve their health, which they would have been able to, having a house on the sea front. Some houses in Wellington Crescent have boarded up windows because in c1727 a window tax was introduced which meant that you had to pay for each window you had and so people boarded up windows that were not needed to save themselves money - this also places the houses in the Georgian period as the tax was introduced then.
2a. Apart from the physical evidence what other sources are there, which help to explain how, Ramsgate developed since this time?
Apart from the physical evidence such as the Georgian buildings that were used as holiday homes there is other evidence written at that time that helps historians explain how Ramsgate has developed since then.
Guide books such as 'The New Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs Guide - 5th Edition' written in1809 for visitors to Thanet help us to gather information about what kinds of activities people enjoyed doing at that time which would have attracted people to visit Ramsgate and it explains how Ramsgate developed to accommodate visitors needs.
10B6
History coursework
. What physical evidence for Ramsgate's original late eighteenth and early nineteenth Century Sea - bathing and holiday making activities can you still see around you today?
Along Ramsgate seafront there are numerous large houses, which in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century were used as holiday homes for the many rich holidaymakers who were attracted to Ramsgate for a summer break. Examples of these houses are in Nelson's Crescent or Wellington Crescent, which is a crescent shape block of houses that look out over the sea. Houses 13,16 and 18 of Wellington Crescent can be placed in the late eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century because they all have typical architectural features from the Georgian period - pediments above the door, large stone pillars, fanlight windows, fanned brickwork, sash windows, iron railings and verandas or balconies.
Fanned brickwork - Sash windows -
(Bottom half of window slides up inside top half)
Iron décor and railings -
The occupants of these houses would have sat on the balconies and taken in the beautiful sea view. They would have been fairly rich to afford a holiday home along Wellington Crescent and they would have been delighted at the chance to parade up and down outside their holiday homes to show off their expensive clothes. Parading at the front of the house would also have given the rich homeowners a chance to meet other people of the same class doing the same. As sea bathing and breathing in the sea air were fashionable at that time they would have also wanted to breathe in the sea air to improve their health, which they would have been able to, having a house on the sea front. Some houses in Wellington Crescent have boarded up windows because in c1727 a window tax was introduced which meant that you had to pay for each window you had and so people boarded up windows that were not needed to save themselves money - this also places the houses in the Georgian period as the tax was introduced then.
2a. Apart from the physical evidence what other sources are there, which help to explain how, Ramsgate developed since this time?
Apart from the physical evidence such as the Georgian buildings that were used as holiday homes there is other evidence written at that time that helps historians explain how Ramsgate has developed since then.
Guide books such as 'The New Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs Guide - 5th Edition' written in1809 for visitors to Thanet help us to gather information about what kinds of activities people enjoyed doing at that time which would have attracted people to visit Ramsgate and it explains how Ramsgate developed to accommodate visitors needs.
