Margate Roads

Margate Roads is a deep-water anchorage just north of the coastal town of Margate in Kent, England. The Margate Roads are protected to seaward by the Margate Sands, which are exposed at low tide. As early as the seventeenth century the ‘Navye Royall’ (the Royal Navy) used the Margate Roads as a fleet anchorage. In the 1830s, Margate was one of three important watering places located on the Isle of Thanet, in the north-east corner of Kent. Migrant ships anchored in the Margate Roads may have taken the opportunity to refill water casks. Margate was originally a fishing station for the village of St John’s. The name Margate is derived from the old English words ‘mere’ and ‘geat’. From ‘mere’, come the words ‘sea’ and ‘pool’ and ‘geat’ meant ‘gate’ or ‘gap’. In the case of Margate, the name refers to a gap in cliffs by a pool that no longer exists.

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