Churches of the British Isles

Cavendish Baptist Church sits on the southern side of Cavendish Street, opposite Cavendish Villa. It was an early nonconformist place of worship in Ramsgate, at a time when the town was undergoing a building boom after the Napoleonic Wars. It existed as Cavendish Chapel by 1849 but probably closed after the Second World War, when congregations dwindled, and merged with King's Church. It now houses Clarendon House Grammar School Arts Centre.

Hardres Street United Church, is on the western corner of Hardres Street and Broad Street. It opened before 1849 as Beulah Chapel, and later became a Wesleyan Chapel. In 1911, the Wesleyan Centenary Hall & Sunday Schools was also opened a little further up Hardres Street. The church was badly damaged during the Second World War and had to be replaced. When the Meeting Street Congregational church closed, the churches merged at this site.

St George the Martyr sits at the top of Church Hill, off Church Street and Broad Street. With the building of the Royal Harbour and the interest in sea bathing made popular by royalty, the population of Ramsgate rapidly swelled. At a meeting in 1823, the decision was taken to build a church to seat 2,000 with free sittings for 1,200. Land was purchased from the Townley family and the Gothic church was built to a design by Henry Hemsley (who died before work started).

The church was consecrated on 23 October 1827 as Ramsgate's central Anglican parish church, replacing St Mary's Chapel-of-Ease in Chapel Place (closed in 1939 during the wartime evacuation of Ramsgate). The ceremony was attended by the great and the good of the day, with tickets being sold and the entire town's accommodation filled by visitors. Church Hill was something of an off-street backwater by 2010, when the church appeared to be closed.

Ramsgate Congregational Church is on the southern side of Meeting Street. Founded in 1662, it is unknown what form the first church building took, but the burial ground next door (on the left here) confirms its existence. The burial ground closed in 1743 and Barrossa Cottage was built on the site. The present church building was opened in 1838, but the members later merged with Hadres Road Methodists. The old building is now a Centre of Excellence.

The Society of Friends, or Quakers, meet in Ramsgate in a small, purpose-built chapel which is entered via the southern side of Thomson's Passage, where it connects to Chapel Lane, off Elms Avenue & Guildford Lawn. The chapel faces northwards into Chapel Lane itself. One of the Society's most famous members was Elizabeth Fry, recorded as a minister in 1811, who died in Ramsgate on 12 October 1845 and was buried at the Friends burial ground in Barking.

The Salvation Army Citadel's main entrance, a large-fronted and fairly impressive two-storey edifice, is at 167 High Street, on the northern side, at the corner with Belmont Road. This less-noticed side entrance is on the eastern side of Belmont Road. The Army has been here since 1890, with the gable here providing that date. The Army's registered headquarters in 1936 at least was 9 Oxford Street in Ramsgate, while 24 Belmont Road was used as accommodation.

Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, Ramsgate East & West, is on the northern side of the High Street, at No 189. Like the Salvation Army, Jehovah's Witnesses have been in Ramsgate since at least 1936, but minor nonconformist groups in Thanet are poorly attested and this case is no different. The date at which the meeting, and the impressively simple building, were originally established is unclear, but one local remembers it going up in the early 1990s.

Belmont Road Pentecostal Church is on the western side of Belmont Road. In 1936 it was listed under 'Brethren - South Eastern Hall, Belmont Hall'. By 2010 it looked to be well past its best, with its brickwork, especially around the entrance, visibly crumbling. Two small windows at the front were bricked up before 1984 and no signage exists to show the church is still in use, although small metal plaques were positioned on the filled-in windows in 1984.

All photos on this page by P L Kessler. Additional information by Steve Wylie and Mike Payne.