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Village
at War
Romans, Saxons, Danes, Normans - all
have landed on our Kentish shore and defence of the realm becomes
paramount.
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1256 |
SANDYGEAT, as first
recorded, denotes a gate or cleft in the sandstone hills through
which the Enbrook flows to meet the sea. No more than a dot on the
landscape Sandgate, strategically, has to be on watch. According to
13th C. Rolls, the Manor of Stowting is duty bound to keep a
constable and six men ' to guard the passage of the sea' at Sandgate.
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| 1539 |
During the Reformation,
when relations with France and Spain are strained to the limit,
Henry VIII orders the building of Sandgate Castle along with those
at Walmer, Deal, Sandown, and Camber to defend agaynste the
intolerable yoke of Popish tyranie.
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| 1652 |
In August, during the
1st Dutch wars, the main Dutch fleet under Cornelius de With sails
down Channel behind de Ruyter, driving half a dozen merchantment
ashore between Folkestone and Hythe and passes, it is said, so close
as to be fired upon from Sandgate Castle.
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|
1794 |
Shorncliffe Camp is
established on the heights overlooking Sandgate. The War Dept.
purchases 229 acres of open land, and more in 1796 and 1806.
Temporary wooden barracks are replaced in 1804 with more solid
structures in stone, to house cavalry and artillery. In the lee of
the Camp, Sandgate grows and prospers.
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| 1803 |
The Castle is on watch
again. Peace with France, under the Treaty of Amiens, has been brief
and 25 miles across the Channel, Napoleon and his Grande Armée are
poised to conquer England. . . .Sandgate's westerly defences are
extended (Battery Point) and the Royal Military Canal, conceived by
the great civil engineer John Rennie, begins its slow construction
years. . .The crumbling Castle is transformed into a giant Martello
armed with cannon.
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| 1815 |
Napoleon abdicates
after the Allies - under Wellington and Blücher - triumph at
Waterloo. Late in June, the Kent coast resounds to a salvo of guns
to welcome the crowned heads of Europe as they sail into Dover on
route to the Victory Celebrations in London. According to John
Gough's mother, many a pane is shattered by the force of the
24-poinder atop Sandgate Castle.
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|
1900 |
In April, amid fanfare
and flags, vast crowds turn out to welcome the Ladysmith Heroes to
the Beach Rocks Convalescent Home, after a 6-month siege and a 6000
mile journey. By 1908 The Beach Rocks is known as the Alfred Bevan
Memorial Convalescent Home where the splendid, somewhat formidable
Sister Mumford takes charge of 200 persons, in particular the
wounded in World War 1.
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| 1914 |
World War 1 breaks out
and by 1915, 40,000 Canadians are in training at Shorncliffe Camp.
The Castle is used as an air-raid shelter and by the Royal Field
Artillery.
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| 1917 |
Civilians have always
been directly affected by wars, whether they were the grieving
relatives of men who had died in action, or as the victims of siege,
famine and displacement. But the First World War brought a new
threat - attacks on non combatants from the air.
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| 1939 |
World War II and
invasion fears are rife. For safety, the disabled are sent to
Richmond and Enbrook House is requisitioned by the Army and later
the National Fire Service.
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|
WW2 |
France surrenders in
June 1940, England stands alone and the Battle of Britain rages
overhead. Sandgate, 8-10 miles west of Hellfire Corner and just east
of a possible German landing (Operation Sealion), becomes a Defence
Area. The Castle is mounted with anti-aircraft guns and serves
as an Air-raid shelter and Home Guard post. Shorncliffe AA batteries
are on the alert. Unlike the massive bombing and shelling of
Folkestone and Dover, the village mainly suffers parachute-mine and
offshore blast.
In March 1942, two houses in
Chichester Road are severely damaged, and one a 'write-off'. In
January 1943, and enemy bomb lands in the Star and Garter grounds,
causing damage to St. Paul's, the empty Sandgate Primary
School and around 100 homes nearby. Three other bombs drop
harmlessly offshore. In 1944 , the Doodle-bugs (V!'s) are droning
over; one skims the 'Gents' at the Seafront Cafe on the Esplanade,
nearly catching a lad with his pants down. Other missiles are
brought down near the shore. Inevitably houses and shops are badly
shaken, and windows boarded up.
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| 1945 |
The Boulogne guns are
silent. VE Day celebrations (8 May), marking the end of World War II
in Europe, include a children's party in Wilberforce Road with games
races, music and dancing, and ending with cheers for the organisers.
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| 1999 |
Two thousand Ghurkas
are expected to take up married quarters. According to National
Defence policy, Shorncliffe Garrison is maintained but on a lesser
scale. The Military Cemetery dates from the mid 1850's. Annually on
Canada Day, tribute is paid to the 296 Canadians buried there
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Content for Sandgate-Kent Local History
pages is mostly taken from 'Rise and Progress of a Village"
- by Linda Réne-Martin
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