Ramsgate People & Places - West Cliff

Ramsgate People and Places - West Cliff. . Standing here on Sion Hill you can appreciate the whole Royal Harbour laid out before you. When the sun is shining this magnificent marine facility can be compared to Cannes on the French Riviera. It is a working harbour and visitors can wander around the quays viewing a wide selection of seagoing commercial and pleasure craft., The Royal Harbour and Port has four distinct areas. The marina where pleasure craft are moored has a lock gate to maintain water levels at low tide. Outside the lock gate and to the left are the fishing and wind farm fleets. To the far right outside the Harbour but within the rocky breakwater is the commercial port built in 1992., Lord Liverpool (1770-1828) , Robert Jenkinson, Lord Liverpool was Prime Minister from 1812-1827 and was therefore an influential friend of Sir William Curtis in his dealings with King George IV. The group of houses known as Liverpool Lawn is named in honour of Lord Liverpool and bears his crest on the central pediment of the main terrace., Sir William Curtis (1752-1879) , He was known as "Billy Biscuit" because of his family business in ships' biscuits. Sir William Curtis held many political offices in the City of London. including MP and Lord Mayor. He was a confidant of King George IV and hosted his stay at Ramsgate in Cliff House, before the king's embarkation to Hanover Curtis was fond of sailing and the king often accompanied him on his cruises., Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) , Wilkie Collins was a novelist and close friend of Charles Dickens. Collins had a complicated personal life and lived with two women. In 1856 he lived with widow Caroline Graves and her daughter. In 1864 he met Martha Rudd and had three children by her. There are two blue plaques to Collins in Ramsgate where he stayed with each of his women., Harbour Haven, Cervia and the Little Ships , Ramsgate Harbour was built as a haven for ships to shelter from storms which frequently blew up in the Channel and wrecked numerous ships on the Goodwin Sands. The greatest haven of all was Ramsgate's involvement in the evacuation from Dunkirk beaches in 1940, "Sundowner" in the marina accompanied numerous other little ships in the rescue. "Cervia" the tugboat in the Dry Dock had not been built at this time but many similar tugs towed barges to and from Dunkirk, helping in the evacuation., Nelson Crescent , The original clifftop crescent in Ramsgate was built between 1798 and 1801. Many famous people have passed through these terraced houses and unlike the later Royal Crescent or Wellington Crescent on Eastcliff, these buildings are all individually designed and constructed, giving a more random appearance. Numbers 1 to 18 are grade II listed., Tidal Ball , The Tidal Ball, just to the right of this board was used as a signal for ships when there was sufficient depth of water to enter the harbour. The ball was hoisted for high tide and lowered for low tide; the original Tidal Ball support was enclosed by a building at its base., Royal Parade and Military Road , This is Victorian engineering at its best. Opened in 1895, Royal Parade and Madeira Walk were built to provide a direct link between the East and West cliffs of Ramsgate without having to go through the town. As part of these construction works a section of the Inner Harbour was infilled and Military Road widened as a quayside access, the supporting vaults are used by various businesses connected with marine activities.