Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for WHITSTABLE

WHITSTABLE, a small town, a parish, a sub-district, and a hundred, in Kent. The town stands on the coast, at the terminus of the Canterbury and Whitstable railway, and on the Kent Coast line of the London, Chatham, and Dover railway, 6 miles NNW of Canterbury; is long and straggling; carries on a great oyster fishery, and a considerable coaltrade; and has a post-office‡ under Canterbury, a r. station with telegraph, a large coast guard station, an ancient church, a Primitive Methodist chapel, endowed schools, and a fair on the Thursday before Whitsunday.—The parish includes part of Harwich hamlet; and comprises 3,610 acres of land, and 465 of water. Real property, £12,732; of which £50 are in gasworks. Pop. in 1851, 2,746; in 1861, 3,675. Houses, 730. The increase of pop. arose from extension of the shipping-trade. The property is much subdivided. Tankerton Castle is the seat of W. Ellis, Esq. Salt-works and copperas-works are on the shore. Ancient remains are on a sea-bank in Tankerton bay; and Roman pottery has been found in dredging for oysters. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, £160.* Patron, the Archbishop.—The sub-district includes Seasalter and Swalecliff; is in Blean district; and comprises 8,543 acres. Pop. in 1851, 4,162: in 1861, 5,221. Houses, 1,031.-The hundred is in St. Augustine lathe, and comprises 6,335 acres. Pop. in 1851, 3,406. Houses, 636.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a small town, a parish, a sub-district, and a hundred"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Whitstable CP/AP       Whitstable CP       Whitstable Hundred       Whitstable SubD       Kent AncC
Place: Whitstable

Go to the linked place page for a location map, and for access to other historical writing about the place. Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.