Margate (Kent)

Margate
Coordinates	51 ° 23 '  N , 1 ° 23'  E Coordinates: 51 ° 23 '  N , 1 ° 23'  E
Margate
Residents	64,757 (as of 2017)
surface	12.6 km² (4.86  mi² )
Population density:	5139 inhabitants per km²
administration
prefix	01843
Part of the country	England
Ceremonial county	Kent

Margate is an English town on the northern coastline of the Isle of Thanet between Broadstairs and Herne Bay in Kent , in the south-east of the United Kingdom . The city has 64,757 inhabitants (as of 2017). The cliffs on their coastline are made of chalk and are known for their fossil record.

In 2010, the Thanet wind farm off Margates coast was commissioned by the Swedish energy company Vattenfall .

history

Margate Harbor 1897

Evening sky over Margate 2013

The city was founded around 1254 under the name Meregate and was known as Margate around 1293 . The name has changed several times up to the present day. It should be derived from a gap in the cliffs with ponds behind.

In the 15th century, Margate was part of the Cinque Ports Alliance as an outpost of Dover . From the middle of the 18th century, the city developed into one of the leading English seaside resorts. Just like the neighboring town of Ramsgate , it was a traditional destination for Londoners who were drawn to the sandy beaches. The Victorian pier was destroyed by a storm in 1978.

Just like the other seaside resorts of Brighton and Southend , Margate was notorious for the clashes between mods and rockers in the 1960s and between mods and skinheads in the 1980s.

tourism

Like the entire region, Margate also lives mainly from tourism, benefiting from its proximity to London. In addition to individual travelers, (English) bus tourists come to Margate especially during the Christmas holidays and at the turn of the year, and it is also a destination for school language trips. In recent years, however, the flow of tourists has decreased significantly, which has brought Margate into considerable economic difficulties.

The cityscape is characterized by a promenade , a tide-dependent small port with a pier, a sandy beach directly below the town center and B&B hotels and guest houses . To the east, Margate goes directly into the district of Cliftonville.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Margate, like other British seaside resorts, hosted important chess championships.

Attractions

• Also worth seeing are the large 19th century crescents , a series of mansions. A promenade leads over cliffs to Broadstairs , where Charles Dickens wrote the novel David Copperfield in 1850 .
• Margate has two theaters, with the Theater Royal being the second oldest and the Tom Thumb Theater being the second smallest in England.
• A two-story Tudor half-timbered house from the 16th century stands on a flint base on King Street .
• The Shell Grotto is a presumably man-made cave in private ownership, the walls of which were lavishly decorated with ornaments made from over 4.6 million seashells. A staircase leading downwards and a 21 m long corridor leads to a round room with an inner column, after which one reaches a rectangular room (altar chamber) with a height of about 4.6 m and length of 6.1 m. The cave was discovered by James Newlove in 1835. The origin and the age of the grotto could not yet be clarified.
• The Turner Contemporary Museum, designed by the English architect David Chipperfield , opened in April 2011. The namesake William Turner went to school in Margate and visited the city regularly until the end of his life.

Typical street in Cliftonville (2009)

Coastline in the district of Cliftonville

Districts

• Margate
• Cliftonville
• Garlings
• Palm Bay
• Westbrook

Twin cities

• Idar-Oberstein (Germany) since 1981
• Yalta (Ukraine)

politics

Since 1983 the Conservatives have provided MPs for the constituencies of North Thanet and Herne Bay. In the last election in 2010 they reached 52.7%. The Labor Party got 21.5%, the Liberals 19.4% and the Independents 6.5%.

Since 1857 Margate existed as an independent municipality (Municipal Borough). In 1974 the city became part of the Thanet district of Kent. The city is made up of the seven constituencies of Margate Central, Cliftonville West, Cliftonville East, Westbrook, Garlinge, Dane Valley and Salmestone. There 17 of the 56 seats of the district council of Thanet are elected. In the 2007 election, the Conservatives won nine seats, the Liberals seven seats and one seat went to the Independents.

schools

Elementary schools

• Palm Bay
• Drapers Mills
• Garlings
• Cliftonville
• Holy Trinity and St John's
• Salmestone
• St Gregory's Catholic Primary School

Further training

• Hartsdown Technology College
• St Anthony's

Private schools

• Farrow House
• Laleham Gap
• King Ehtelberts
• Hartsdown

High schools

• Chatham House
• Clarendon House
• Dane Court (Broadstairs)

economy

The city's employees are divided into the following branches of employment: 17% in retail, 16% in health and social services, 13% in crafts, 9% in construction, 5% public administration, 6% hotels and restaurants, 2% financial services, 1% agriculture and 6% other public services.

Unemployment in the city is higher than the national average, which is mainly due to the decline in tourism in recent years.

media

Two local papers appear in Margate. The Isle of Thanet Gazette and Thanet Times , part of the Northcliffe Media publishing group. The city's free newspapers are Thanet Extra from KM Group and yourthanet from KOS Media.

Receivable broadcast stations are the local radio station KMFM Thanet the KM Group , Academy FM , as well as the national radio programs from Heart Kent , Gold radio and BBC Radio Kent .

sons and daughters of the town

• Ana Lily Amirpour (* 1980), American film director and screenwriter
• Ballard Berkeley (1904–1988), actor
• Alfred Deller (1912–1979), countertenor
• Tracey Emin (* 1963), artist
• David Watkin (1925-2008), cinematographer

Personalities associated with Margate

• William Turner , landscape painter, went to school in Margate, the Turner Contemporary was named after him

literature

Oulton, WC Picture of Margate, and Its Vicinity (1820) Paternoster Row, London: Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy. (2005 reprint) Ramsgate, Kent: Michaels Bookshop, ISBN 1-905477-20-1 . Title page of original edition: [1]

Web links

Commons : Margate  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Museum website

supporting documents

1. ↑ City Populations
2. ↑ National Piers Society (accessed on January 6, 2011) ( Memento of the original from August 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ There is an unflattering portrait of skinheads and a Cockneyfied Margate in Paul Theroux , The Kingdom by the Sea , 1983: 24-26.
4. ^ Tudor House . In: Images of England . English Heritage. Archived from the original on May 31, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved October 28, 2008. 
5. ^ Election 2010 . bbc.co.uk. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
6. ↑ 2007 Election results . Thanet District Council. Archived from the original on October 28, 2007. Retrieved March 29, 2007.
7. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from September 4, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.