Enlarge Commemorative Map of Ramsgate 1884-1934
- £sold
- Stock Code: 23062
- Product Archive, WILLIS, B
- Author: B Willis
- Date: 1934
- Dimensions: 49 x 43 cms
Description:
Attractive pictorial map of the Port of Ramsgate [1934] by local artist B Willis for the 50th anniversary of Borough incorporation
About this piece:
Commemorative Map of Ramsgate 1884-1934
Colour-printed engraved map. Some slight creasing to blank margins but generally a very nicely preserved and bright example. Complete with its original 1930’s presentation tube, the exterior embellished with colour label depicting the Ramsgate coat of arms.
1934 proved an eventful and historic anniversary for the Kent port of Ramsgate, as the city and its residents celebrated the 50th anniversary of the borough’s incorporation. The occasion was marked by extensive festivities, not least as the townsfolk came together to perform a remarkable Historic Pageant, which took place over two weeks in July at the town’s Ellington Park, visible here in the centre of the map.
This fine and quite scarce commemorative map appears to have been prepared as a special presentation piece for the several hundred townspeople who participated in the Pageant and for the numerous local worthies and dignitaries who also attended the event.
The map itself is signed B Willis, probably the same B Willis who was a local administrator & teacher at the Thanet School of Art and in later life also exhibited at the Royal Academy.
The map itself provides a striking bird’s eye perspective on the Port and its immediate environs, laid out almost like a triangular wedge, extending from Little Cliffsend in the west (bottom left) to the Greyhound track and Eastcliff Lodge in the east (mid right), and from Haine Farm and Jacky Baker’s Sports Ground in the north (upper left) to the Royal Harbour, Beach, Bathing Station, Sea front and Channel (lower right). The seawaters of the Channel and the cornfields to the west of the town are strikingly represented in attractive stylised fashion. Prominent local buildings, streets and landmarks are also identified, as is the future RAF base at Manston, shown here as a rural civilian flying field, sandwiched between the aforementioned cornfields and graced by a solitary biplane.