Margate and St Peters and Elvis Presley and some reflections on modern art

It was my intention to go to Margate today to take some pictures of the fencing that has appeared round Arlington House Margate I am sorry to have to admit failure here and I can only blame Elvis Presley.

We started out by going to Westgate I was trying to find a new back pack and one or two other bits, but instead wound up buying books.

We then went on to park on Margate Harbour Arm and succumbed to coffee and chocolate cake at BeBeached at just over a fiver each this isn’t cheap but with the view the excellent WiFi connection coffee, cake and cream it has become a must before facing Margate.

While we were eating this a large plume of black smoke appeared beside Arlington House, I wasn’t sure if this was a normal occurrence but took pictures of it anyway.

Having been set up by the coffee I set out for the High Street where I bought the Elvis Videos above, the problem from then on were that they were extremely heavy and I wanted the loo. I remembered one was in the old market, but when I got there could only find the sign. I did discover a comic shop there though, something that people are always looking asking for in the bookshop, so it will be useful to have somewhere to send them.

Anyway after struggling back to the harbour arm, where the loo was open I went to look at the exhibition in The Droit House. The clock on the Droit House was completely wrong, something that never bodes well for me. After this I took a few more pictures, here is the link to the first lot of pictures http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/julylaptop3/id2.htm

I am afraid that the art exhibition, like the previous ones there now leaves me with completely the wrong feelings, well you can see the pictures, the problem is not so much about is it good, bad or even is it art, but much more that this is what public money is being spent on to rejuvenate Margate.

Anyway after this and the associated thoughts I forgot all about Arlington House car park and went off to St Peters graveyard for some sort of different visual stimulation, sorry some of the pictures of this are a bit wonky I was eating a Co Op Sandwich while it took most of them, see http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/julylaptop3/id4.htm

Whitfield Tower Revisited

I did a post about this tower earlier in the month and had a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I had read something about it in one of my publications. It was in fact in the 1831 publication The Picturesque Pocket Companion To Margate Ramsgate Broadstairs & Parts Adjacent by William Kidd with woodcuts by G. W. Bonner, Woodcuts being favoured for this sort of guide as they can be printed with a platen press and therefore included in the text rather than having to be tipped in after the book is sewed.

Click here to see what Mr Kidd had to say about it and to look at Mr Bonners cut.

I have two copies of the original guide in stock as well as the cheap reprint.

1816 picture of the tower that was near St Peters

If memory serves me right this tower was supposed to mark the highest point on the Isle of Thanet, the fact that it wasn’t actually on the highest point in Thanet only goes to show.

I thought it was one of the most attractive of the old prints that I bought today.

Mockett’s Journal

Portrait of John Mockett

Of all the books I have published over the past three years Mockett’s Journal is one that most needs a forum where the descendents of those named in it can comment and communicate with each other.

The old Thanet names Mockett Culmer Dewker Crampton and so on crop up throughout and I often ship copies to their descendents living all over the world.

John Mockett (1775~1848) was a farmer in the Isle of Thanet at the beginning of the 1800s. He was a churchwarden to St. Peters at a time when local government was administered by the parish so he had considerable responsibility for the care of the population and the environment. Mockett also saw military service for 13 years as a “Yeoman of Thanet”.

This publication is the result of a journal kept by him and members of his family, it is filled with amusing information about our history the following are some examples.

When coaches first appeared in England a law was passed to prevent men from riding in them as it was thought too effeminate.

When the peace was celebrated at St. Peters Broadstairs in 1814, 436 poor persons and stewards were seated at a table 132 feet long, with about 8 inches of table each it must have been a bit cramped, admission was by ticket all had to bring their own knives and forks.

In 1828 Margate Savings Bank had to close because a clerk absconded with a large amount of money.

In the same year when Thanet people dressed up for fun at Christmas a young woman dressed as a crow was so frightened on seeing a man dressed as a bear that she died.

In 1829 the overseer of the poor in St. Peters built a cage for public offenders.

In the same year some of Thanet’s agricultural workers put out of work by the introduction of thrashing machines were deported for seven years for breaking up the machines.

Gaols at the time were fitted with treadmills for evildoers who if they didn’t keep up the pace caused a bell to ring.

Click here to read sample pages from the book