| 450 Years of Building | |
|
|
The history of Sandgate covers nearly 450 years from the building of the Castle for Henry VIII in 1539. The men who built the castle lived in tents on the beach: there were hardly any buildings. There were still very few 200 years later in the 1770's when a ship-builder had to provide cottages for his workmen. Some of these weather-boarded cottages are still standing. The establishment of Shorncliffe Camp in 1794 brought new life to the area and marked the beginnings of Sandgate as an attractive seaside resort. Sarah Siddons, resting here to recover from a 20 hour Channel crossing wrote of "neat little lodgings and good wholesome provisions". William Wilberforce, the slave abolitionist, who rented a house for family holidays in 1812 and three later years, wrote of "hot and cold sea baths: library: billiard tables: ponies and donkeys: everything but a church or chapel" (which came later). With parallel progress in local government, Sandgate became in due course an autonomous local authority with its own Council, water supply and fire service, until integrated with Folkestone in 1934. |
