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Westgate-on-Sea is a seaside town in north-east Kent, England, with a population of 6,996 at the 2011 Census.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Margate Ward population 2011 )〕 It is within the Thanet local government district and borders the larger seaside resort of Margate. Its two sandy beaches have remained a popular tourist attraction since the town's development in the 1860s from a small farming community. The town is notable for once being the location of a Royal Naval Air Service seaplane base at St Mildred's Bay, which defended the Thames Estuary coastal towns during World War I. The town is the subject of Sir John Betjeman's poem, ''Westgate-on-Sea''. Residents have included the 19th-century surgeon Sir Erasmus Wilson and former Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple. The artist Sir William Quiller Orchardson painted several of his most well-known pictures while living in Westgate-on-Sea. The British composer Arnold Cooke attended the town's Streete Preparatory School in the early 20th century, and Eton headmaster Anthony Chenevix-Trench spent the earliest few years of his education in the town. == History == Before the 1860s, Westgate consisted of only a farm, a coastguard station (built 1791 and still standing in Old Boundary Road) and a few cottages for the crew that surrounded it. These were located beside the coast at St Mildred's Bay, named after Mildrith, Thanet's patron saint and a one-time Abbess of Minster. The town inherited its name from the Westgate Manor, which was located in the area in medieval times. In the early 20th century, the remains of a Roman villa were discovered in what is now Beach Road, where a stream once used to flow. Fresh water can still be seen rising from the sand at low tide. During the late 1860s, businessmen developed the area into a seaside resort for the upper to middle-classes. A stretch of sea wall, with promenade on top, was constructed around the beaches at St Mildred's Bay and West Bay, and the land divided into plots to be sold for what would become an exclusive development by the sea for wealthy metropolitan families within a 'gated community', rather than for occasional tourists.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher = British History Online )〕 The opening of a railway station, in 1871, led to the rapid expansion of the population,〔 which reached 2,738 by 1901.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher = VisionOfBritain.org.uk )〕 The demands of the increasing population led to the building of the parish churches of St. James in 1872 and St. Saviour in 1884.〔(Westgate Heritage Centre: St. Saviour's Parish Church )〕 St. Saviour's was designed by the architect C.N. Beazley.〔 In 1884 it was reported that Essex, on the other side of the Thames Estuary, was hit by a tremor so large that it caused the bells of St. James' Church to ring.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher = BBC )〕 In 1884, ownership of most of the resort passed to Coutts Bank, after the previous proprietors had gone bankrupt.〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher = British-History.ac.uk )〕 Around twenty schools were opened during the late 19th century, although many had only a few pupils or closed within a few years. The largest of the schools were Streete Court School, Wellington House Preparatory School and St Michael's School. Wellington House was established in 1886 by two clergymen, the Bull brothers. It closed in 1970 and was demolished in 1972. Notable old boys included Doctor Who actor Jon Pertwee and cabinet minister John Profumo, known for his involvement in the Profumo affair. Streete Court School was opened in 1894 by John Vine Milne, the father of the author A. A. Milne. In the 1890s, the school was attended by St John Philby, the father of the spy Kim Philby.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher = streetecourtschool.co.uk/ )〕 The Coronation Bandstand was built by the cliff edge in 1903, at a cost of £350, to celebrate the coronation of King Edward VII.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher = WestgatePavilion.org.uk )〕 The following year, a group of French Ursuline nuns, who were banned from teaching in France, fled with some of their pupils to Westgate-on-Sea and established the Ursuline Convent School, which in 1995 was re-established as Ursuline College. In 1910, a Swiss-Gothic styled town hall was built. However, it was soon decided that the building could be put to better use, and in 1912, it was transformed into the Town Hall Cinema. In 1932, it was renamed the Carlton Cinema.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher = CinemaTreasures.org )〕 On 1 August 1914, after the outbreak of World War I, a Royal Navy seaplane base was opened by the coast to defend the Thames Estuary naval towns against attack. It was at first used for both seaplanes and landplanes, but due to landing problems, a separate landplane base was opened in Manston in 1916. After the war, the seaplane base was decommissioned, and the landplane base in Manston eventually became Kent International Airport.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher = AirportGuides.co.uk )〕 During the war, the Coronation Bandstand was converted into sleeping quarters for use by the Royal West Kent Regiment. In 1925, the bandstand was refurbished and reopened as the 600-seat Westgate Pavilion theatre.〔 By 1931, the town's population had reached 4,554.〔 During World War II, several schools were evacuated to inland areas,〔 with some, such as Streete Court School, leaving the town permanently.〔 On 24 August 1942, a German fighter pilot, Herbert Bischoff, was captured after being shot down and crash landing in a field adjacent to Linksfield Rd, just south of the town. On 27 April 1944 a Liberator aircraft from the 392nd USAAF bombing group Based in East Anglia near Wendling, Norfolk, crashed off the beach, adjacent to the Westgate Pavilion, with five of the crew killed and four injured in the crash. A special memorial service was held for the crew by the Mayor of Margate and veterans organisations on 27 April 2009 at the war memorial overlooking the crash site. In 1975, five historic church bells were transferred to St Saviour's Church from the Holy Cross Church in Canterbury, which had closed in 1972. Three of the bells date back to the early 17th century and one was cast in the 14th century.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher = Church Bells of Kent )〕 From the 1970s to the 1990s, the Westgate Pavilion was a bingo hall, after which it closed and became derelict. In 2001, a group of volunteers formed a charitable trust to repair the pavilion and it was eventually reopened as a theatre.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Westgate-on-Sea」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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