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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not work) :
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Whitstable (/ˈwɪtstəbəl/) is a town on the north coast of Kent adjoining the convergence of the Swale Estuary and the Greater Thames Estuary in southeastern England,[2] five miles (eight kilometres) north of Canterbury and two miles (three kilometres) west of Herne Bay. The 2011 Census reported a population of 32,100.
The town, formerly known as Whitstable-on-Sea,[3] was famous for its 'Native Oysters' which were collected from beds beyond the low water mark from Roman times until the mid-20th century. The annual Whitstable Oyster Festival takes place during the summer.
In 1830, one of the earliest passenger railway services was opened[4] by the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway Company. In 1832 the company built a harbour and extended the line to handle coal and other bulk cargos for the City of Canterbury. The railway has closed but the harbour still plays an important role in the town's economy. The railway route, known as The Crab and Winkle Line, is now a cycle path which leads to the neighbouring city of Canterbury.
History
Archaeological finds indicate that the Whitstable area was inhabited during the Palaeolithic era, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age.[5][6] Oysters were harvested in the area in Roman times.[7] The remains of a Roman building have been found in the centre of the town. Charters indicate that there were Saxon settlements where salt production and coastal trade occurred.[8] In the 19th century, extensive finds of Roman pottery were found in the sea around Whitstable during oyster dredging, and an offshore rock near the town has been associated with Caunos, an island mentioned by Ptolemy.[9]
The town was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, under the name Witenestaple,[10] meaning "the meeting place of the white post", a reference to a local landmark. At that time, Witenestaple was the administrative centre of the hundred of Witenestaple[11] which stretched from the coast to the village of Blean, 3 kilometres (2 mi) north of Canterbury. In addition to Witenestaple, the hundred contained three manors at Seasalter, Northwood and Swalecliffe. Whitstable hundred was located within the Lathe of St Augustine.[9]
The Seasalter and Swalecliffe manors were owned by the church, and the manor at Northwood was run by a noble family on behalf of the king. Fisheries were located at the Seasalter manor, saltworks were at the Northwood manor, and pigs were farmed at the forest in Blean.[12] By 1226, the name of the area had evolved into Whitstaple.[13] Saltworks were opened at the Seasalter manor around the turn of the 14th century, and a sea wall was built there in 1325 to prevent coastal flooding.[12] The history and development of the town has determined and been determined by the shape and location of the coast which has changed over recorded history due to natural events and human interventions.
By the late middle ages Whitstable had become a centre of Thames Esturary fishing, including for oysters, and was connected by road to Chestfield where archaeological finds evidence seafood consumption, as well as the Forest of Blean.[14]
Harbour Street in Whitstable Town Centre
By 1413, the three manors had combined to form the Whitstaple manor, and had been sold to a religious foundation in Essex.[12] The manor was seized by King Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century, and was given to the Minter family, originally from Ickham. Branches of the Minter family survive today in the same area).[citation needed] A royal patent was granted in 1574 to the manor owner for the fishing of its oyster beds,[7] and in the same year, the lands at Tankerton were incorporated into the manor. A copperas works was established at Tankerton in 1588, which operated until about 1830.[15] By 1610, the name Whitstaple had become Whitstable.[13]
Around the mid-18th century, goods and passengers began to be transported by ship between London and Whitstable, and a toll road was built to the cathedral city of Canterbury. These improvements in transport led to the town's development as a seaside resort; the first advertisements for bathing machines at Whitstable appeared in 1768. In 1790 the manor was sold to private landowners, and three years later the rights to harvest the oyster beds were bought by the newly established Company of Free Fishers and Dredgers of Whitstable,[16][17] the successor to the Whitstable Company of Dredgers.[18] Between roughly 1775 and 1875 the well smacks or early longliners out of Barking and other local fishing ports would collect lugworms and whelks from Whitstable's bait-diggers and dredgers before beginning their tour for prime fish north to Iceland. Whelks suspended in net bags in the well could live for a while due to circulating water.[19] In the 1880s, Whitstable was described as having "an unrivalled, and indeed unchallenged, position in the oyster world".[20]
Whitstable Beach
On 3 May 1830, the world's first entirely steam-hauled passenger and freight railway service was opened by the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway Company.[21][22] Designed by William James, the line ran six miles (10 km) from Westgate in Canterbury to Whitstable town centre. The railway line's initials—C&WR—and Whitstable's shellfish industry eventually led to its nickname, the Crab And Winkle Railway. The line carried coal arriving by sea in Whitstable to Canterbury, delivered by colliers sailing from the north east of England.[23] At this time, the town also had a thriving shipbuilding industry.[23] In the mid nineteenth century, hoys also sailed regularly from London to Whitstable.[9]
Trains were driven by a locomotive for part of the journey, but on inclined planes were pulled on ropes by steam-driven stationary winding engines located at Tyler Hill and Clowes Wood.[21][24][25] The locomotive used was the Invicta, an 0-4-0 inclined cylinder tender locomotive built by Robert Stephenson, the son of engineer George Stephenson.[21][26] Whitstable harbour - also designed by Stephenson - was opened by the railway company in 1832, and the rail line was extended to enable goods, mainly coal, to be directly transferred from ships onto the trains.[24] In 1834, the world's first season tickets were issued for the C&WR line.[21] The harbour's size and positioning meant that it was the last place on England's east coast where barquentines, schooners and brigantines transporting coal could operate, with sailing colliers serving Whitstable Harbour until the 1920s.[27]
The Invicta locomotive was retired in 1840 and replaced by horses until a third winding engine was built at South Street.[25] The Invicta was kept for scrap, but in 1898 work began on its restoration, which continued intermittently until its completion in 1977 by the National Railway Museum in York. On 3 May 1980 the locomotive was returned to Canterbury to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the line.[21] On Sunday 16 June 2019 Invicta was returned to the Whitstable Museum & Gallery.[28]
Around the time of the construction of the Whitstable to Canterbury line, the local Gorrell stream was diverted into what was known as the Backwater reservoir, so as to prevent the railway needing to cross the estuary of the stream on damp and unstable land. The Gorrell Backwater was then filled through the stream itself as well as rain water drainage when the tide was in, and whilst out the water would be released into the newly built Whitstable Harbour. The reservoir unfortunately would contribute to the flooding of the town during years when the reservoir could not be drained, such as in 1897 and 1953 when weather conditions were exceptionally bad. This continued into the late 1960s, when fire engines were used to pump out large quantities of the water to prevent further flooding.
In the early 1970s, the present Gorrell Tank was built underground, with the Gorrell Car Park being in service above ground since.[29]
In 1845, the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway Company was bought by the South Eastern Railway, who introduced steam locomotives capable of operating along the entire length of the railway.[21] A direct rail route from Whitstable to London was established in 1860 when the London, Chatham and Dover Railway opened a station on what is now the Chatham Main Line.[24] On 16 November 1869, 71 buildings in the town were destroyed by a fire which started at a shop near the harbour.[30] In about 1856 the first branch of the Sea Cadet Corps, then known as the Naval Lads' Brigade, was established in the town by the Reverend Henry Barton.[