Isle of Thanet Through Time

Dependent originally on fishing and farming, Margate and Ramsgate benefited as limbs of the Cinque Ports during the Middle Ages, shipping grain to London and elsewhere. Growth was, however, slow until an interest in sea-bathing arose in the eighteenth century, when, to Margate''s great benefit, Benjamin Beale invented the first bathing machine with a modesty hood. After that, hoys, paddle steamers...