[CAT]

Very interesting piece of news reel HERB COLLECTOR. I was aware of the buildings and their damage, but thought this occurred as a consequence of enemy action. This also helps put a little more detail to another pic in my collection, of which there are many.

[HERB COLLECTOR]

A short, 1.48, British Pathé 1948 newsreel of the beach side houses at St Margaret's Bay after they had been knocked about a bit by the Royal Marine Commandos during training in World War Two.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YcvyzQVQdI

[TonyYoung]

Just been talking to my mother, who went to St Margaret's Bay on 1st June (2014) and apparently Ian Fleming also lived there. In the gardens, run by the Bay Trust, was an exhibition of photos and newspaper cuttings - including Noel Coward musicals. A picture of children being evacuated from Dover Priory (2 June 1940) brought back memories for mum as she was evacuated on that date, she couldn't find herself in the pictures though.

[ellenkate]

Alastair -
Re your query -
Ruth has sent me the additional information

"I've had another look at the picture of St. Margaret`s Bay on Kent Forum. The Edge (from Ideal Homes Exhib.) is on the left of the picture as it is viewed on screen. It does not look as if the words Tea Garden are painted on the roof of the Excelsior restaurant at the bottom of the zig-zag steps to the Bay from the Leas path and they were painted around 1927(ish) so that brings it a bit further back from 1937. Rest assured, that date is correct for Noel Coward houses (collectively called) at the east end of the Bay. There is a newspaper advert in Dover Express, 8th January, 1937 saying "they are nearing completion". The six new houses constructed by the Elmas Vale Estate Company beyond the Bay Hotel at St. Margarets are nearing completion and the sea wall is being extended in front of them. "Elms Vale Estate company,181 Elms Vale Road, Dover ".  The actual house that Noel Coward bought, "Kays Bluff", was built afterwards (don't know who by) and NC bought it from the Hon. Kay Norton. Those white houses plus NC's one were occupied by the military in WW2 hence their survival, albeit with damage, and the pub was rebuilt around the ruins of the old one.
   I cannot see that the Dover Patrol memorial is built, completed and opened by 1921, although it is a bit fuzzy around that area of the card . Ruth.

Ellenkate

[Alastair]

Thank you, Ellenkate. Very useful info - did your friend mean left when she said 'The Edge' was on the extreme right of the picture? Didn't know Noel Coward's house was built so late.

[ellenkate]

Alastair - my good friend who is archivist for St Margaret's at Cliffe (Ruth Nicol) has sent me this information after looking at your picture (top of page):

   "The top picture I can date between 1920 and 1937, the large two storey on the cliff edge above the beach at the far right of the picture is called The Edge (with the red roof) was built in the Ideal Homes Exhibition in London and bought afterwards and erected in St Margarets in 1920. The first family to live in was called BAKEWELL, I have  p/c with that property on it and a X with a line to it saying "Bakewell's new bung" ! .
   The other dating aid is that the "Noel Coward " houses at the far east end of the beach are not built and they were nearing completion in January 1937, the row of 6 semi-detached white ones and then after the red tile roofed one that NC himself bought in 1947.
 So currently 1920-1937 is the nearest I can get.
    Incidentally the house at the end of The Edge garden, called then Edge Cottage/Sea Breezes was demolished by a direct hit from a German shell in WW2 with 9 casualties, the military held sway in The Bay in WW 2".

Ellenkate

[unfairytale]

I think the only building that was re-built was the pub!
Another old pic.

[keniff]

It`s pre 1940 as the houses on the seafront are intact - they were requisitioned by the MOD for invasion practice and largely destroyed, but rebuilt/renovated later.

[Alastair]

Old photo of St Margaret's Bay. Early 20th century. Can anyone be more precise?