The Royal Harbour, Ramsgate

Ramsgate Royal Harbour is a major Georgian and early Victorian port complex, developed in stages between 1749 and the 1860s by some of the most distinguished civil engineers of the period. It comprises an outer harbour enclosed by substantial masonry piers to east and west, an inner basin separated from the outer harbour by a crosswall containing sluice gates, a dry dock, and a patent slipway. The harbour was granted royal status and represents an exceptional example of 18th and 19th-century harbour engineering.

Materials

The harbour is constructed primarily of Purbeck and Cornish granite setts, Aislaby sandstone, and chalk block with rubble core. Stone flag paving survives throughout, though much is now covered by later materials. Metalwork includes cast iron elements such as a decorative newel post, entrance gates, a crane post, fairleads (rope guides), the sluice mechanism, and mooring furniture including bollards and rings. Steps are fashioned from granite and marble. Timber settings protect the pier faces from vessels.

Overall Layout

The harbour consists of a large outer harbour enclosed by the East and West Piers, with the crosswall running between them to the north, housing the sluice mechanism and entrance gates. This crosswall forms the southern boundary of the inner basin. The dry dock occupies the south-eastern corner of the inner basin, and the patent slipway is sited next to the inner face of the East Pier. The harbour is bounded to the north by Military Road, to the north-east by Harbour Parade, to the east by the main sands, and to the west by the Port of Ramsgate.

East Pier

Construction of the East Pier began in 1749 under William Ockenden and Captain Robert Brooke of Margate. It extends approximately 230 metres south-eastwards from the concourse outside the Royal Victoria Pavilion before turning south-westwards for approximately 215 metres to reach the original octagonal pier head. The pier is built of a chalk and cement core faced with Purbeck stone and Aislaby sandstone, topped with a granite coping. The inner walls are stepped, while the outer walls feature roll moulding below the parapet. The original stone flag paving has been largely covered by 20th-century paving.

Between 1788 and 1792, John Smeaton added an advance pier extending approximately 95 metres south-westwards from the octagonal pier head. Original paving laid in a radial pattern survives at the later circular pier head, near the early to mid-20th-century terminal building and landing stage. A breakwater constructed of roughly hewn abraded stone extends approximately 210 metres south-eastwards from the pier head into the sea.

An elaborately designed cast iron newel post stands on the outer wall at the pier entrance. Originally attached to railings (now removed), the post is painted grey, black, and white and features twisted columns at all four corners adorned with rosettes, decorative shells, and foliate detailing.

A set of granite stairs known as the Dover stairs (also called the Victoria stairs) provides access to the pier. Vertical ladders are positioned at intervals along the inner face, which also retains vertical timber settings used to protect the structure from moored vessels, along with iron mooring hooks. Modern railings are set into the granite coping, which shows evidence of earlier railings or mooring posts.

John Rennie Senior undertook modifications to the East Pier in 1812, and his son, John Rennie Junior, made further alterations in 1829-30. Thomas Morton added the patent slipway in 1838.

West Pier

Construction of the West Pier began in 1752 under Ockenden and Brooke. The pier runs approximately 230 metres south of the crosswall in a south-easterly direction before turning north-eastwards and continuing for approximately 125 metres to the circular pier head. It comprises a chalk and cement core faced with stepped Purbeck stone, with a granite coping and stone parapet.

The pier head was reconstructed under John Rennie Junior in 1840 using Aislaby sandstone for the lower courses and Cornish granite for the upper courses. A lighthouse built in 1842 by John Shaw stands at the pier head and is separately listed at Grade II. Stone flag paving survives though largely covered with 20th-century tarmac, except at the head where the paving is set in a radial pattern. The low coping at the pier head contains inset iron fairleads used to guide boats into the harbour.

A vertical iron post located along the inner face approximately 77 metres south-west of the lighthouse, adjacent to the modern gangway, is all that remains of a moveable crane erected by Peter Kier in 1802.

Samuel Wyatt undertook modifications to the West Pier between 1792 and 1803. Further alterations and repairs were carried out in 1829-30, 1840, 1845, and 1850 by John Rennie Junior.

Inner Basin Walls

The inner basin walls were built between 1750 and around 1790, with later repairs. They extend for approximately 500 metres along the north-western edge of the harbour basin, running roughly north-east to south-west along the line of Military Road, then turning southwards to meet the dry dock to the east and the crosswall to the west. The walls are constructed of coursed Purbeck stone setts in an ashlar arrangement, capped with a granite coping installed in 1892.

A cobbled slipway is located towards the central portion of the main basin wall. Two sets of stone stairs provide access: one near the junction of Harbour Bridge and York Street (with treads that appear recently replaced), and another at the western end of the inner wall before it turns south towards the crosswall. A change in the size and finish of stonework where the wall turns to meet the crosswall indicates John Smeaton's modifications in the 1770s and 1780s, following Ockenden's abortive scheme to contract this area twenty years earlier.

Iron mooring rings are positioned at regular intervals along the inner face, along with handhold chains. White-painted iron railings are set into the granite coping.

The walls were begun under Ockenden and Brooke in 1750, with modifications by John Smeaton in 1777.

Crosswall and Sluices

The harbour crosswall was completed in 1779 to designs by John Smeaton, built between 1777 and 1779 with modifications in 1781. It is predominantly orientated north-east by south-west, kinking slightly at the north-eastern end from the hoverpad apron until it meets slipway number 3. The crosswall extends approximately 415 metres between the East and West Piers, with a single entrance allowing access from the outer harbour to the inner basin. The walls are formed of stepped and rusticated Aislaby sandstone with a granite coping.

Seven sluices, characterised by arched openings with radiating rusticated stone heads, are located at intervals along the crosswall, three of which have been blocked. Twin sluices installed under John Rennie Senior in 1816-19 survive at either end of the wall. Machinery in the form of the cast iron sluice mechanism survives on the crosswall immediately south of the dry dock. The issuing stream was directed by a guide wall faced with granite, located at the eastern end of the crosswall.

Smeaton's original entrance (of about 1777-79) retains iron gates with a later pedestrian swing bridge. A wing wall and adjacent steps added by John Rennie Junior in 1835-37 are positioned on the eastern side of the entrance, extending into the outer harbour. Constructed of Cornish granite, it features eight anti-wave openings.

A secondary entrance built by Samuel Wyatt in about 1806 was bricked up in 1957, though the original gates remain in position. The Dundee steps, constructed in 1810 of Dundee marble, are located between the West Pier and the crosswall. Original cobbles survive at intervals, though most of the crosswall surface has been covered with modern tarmac.

A modern concrete pier has been added to the outer side of the crosswall to accommodate the lifeboat station and associated building. The concrete hoverpad apron, constructed in about 1966, is located at the eastern end of the crosswall, opposite the dry dock.

Further alterations to the crosswall were undertaken in 1810 and between 1816 and 1819 by John Rennie Senior, in 1835-37 by John Rennie Junior, and in 1861-62 under the Board of Trade.

Dry Dock

Set into the south-eastern corner of the inner basin, adjacent to the crosswall, is the dry (or graving) dock. It was designed by John Smeaton and built between 1784 and 1786 (extended in 1816 by John Rennie Senior). The dock comprises a concrete-lined floor with large sandstone blocks forming the side walls and curved end walls, though all are altered. The lower courses of stone on the northern side walls were replaced during restoration works around 1984. The walls are capped with a granite coping.

The dock was modified in 1893 for ice storage. One of the three concrete partition walls installed during this late 19th-century conversion survives behind late 20th-century render and now functions as a railed walkway. Modern blue-painted railings enclosing the dock are excluded from the listing.

Patent Slipway (Number 1)

Morton's Patent Slipway of 1838, designed by Thomas Morton, is located adjacent to the inner face of the East Pier. It comprises two sets of inclined rails set into granite blocks, surrounded by cobbles. A stepped low-rise stone wall demarcates the western boundary. The still-functioning cast iron carriage (or cradle), with visible winch cabling, rests upon the rails, which extend into the waterline.

Subsidiary Features

A total of 127 granite mooring bollards (painted white) are distributed around the harbour: 27 along the inner basin walls, 38 associated with the East Pier, 50 with the West Pier, and 12 on the crosswall.