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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