So why put a cache here on Ramsgate Street? Well before I moved to NZ I lived in Ramsgate, UK.
N 51° 19.859 E 001° 25.435
The Christian missionary St Augustine, sent by Pope Gregory the Great, landed near to Ramsgate in 597AD. The town is home to the Shrine of St Augustine. GC11B44
When St Augustine landed, more people started to move over and land on the nearby Isle of Thanet (made up of Ramsgate, Margate and Broadstairs). The Romans settled and fortified the area and they slowly built up the marshes along the causeway, joining the Isle to the mainland. Now it is only during high sea surges and floods (where water goes 2m above high tide), you get reminded that this is was and Isle.
Anglo-Saxons called anywhere which had a natural harbour and easy access to main land a gate. So when you look around the coast lines many places end in gate.
The artist Vincent Van Gogh moved to Ramsgate in April 1876 at the age of twenty-three. In one of his letters to his brother Theo, he described his surroundings: "There’s a harbour full of all kinds of ships, closed in by stone jetties running into the sea on which one can walk. And further out one sees the sea in its natural state, and that’s beautiful."
King George IV granted its Royal designation in 1821 in appreciation of the town's hospitality when he embarked with the Royal Squadron from Ramsgate for Hanover. The harbour has played an important role through recent history, as one of the main embarkation harbours during the Napoleonic wars.
In 1915–1916 early aircraft began to use the open farmland at Manston as a site for emergency landings. The location near the Kent coast gave Manston some advantages over the other previously established aerodromes. During the First World War, Ramsgate was the target of bombing raids by Zeppelin airships. By 1917 the Royal Flying Corps was well established and taking an active part in the defence of Britain. As RAF Manston, the aerodrome played an important role in the Second World War. It is now called Kent International Airport - not that many planes use this large runway anymore.
As the second World War approached, Ramsgate Borough Council embarked on plans to create a network of Deep Shelter tunnels linking to a former Railway Tunnel which would provide shelter for 60,000 people. The tunnels were opened on 1 June 1939. 75 years later, in 2014, a part of this network was opened to visitors.... although as a rite growing up many youths would find there ways into one of the many entrances into this honeycomb set of tunnels.
From 27 May 1940, Ramsgate harbour was the main assembly point for the build-up of small craft needed for Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk. Once the evacuation was under way, Ramsgate became the second-busiest port after Dover, and just under 43,000 men passed through the port, transported onwards by 82 special trains.
Sadly as with many seaside towns Ramsgate no longer gets the large crowds coming here for holidays, so times are tough but hasn't lost beauty mentioned by Van Gogh.