28-509: The Ramsgate Hoverport or Ramsgate International Hoverport was the world's first purpose-built hoverport constructed on the coast at the village of Cliffsend , around 2 miles (3.2 km) from Ramsgate , with direct access to Pegwell Bay . The hoverport was purpose built in 1969 by hovercraft operator Hoverlloyd to serve the English Channel crossing market using SR.N4 hovercraft. It operated passenger services until 1982 following
56-494: A crossing from Ramsgate Harbour to Calais from 6 April 1966 using small, passenger-only SR.N6 hovercraft. When the much larger SR.N4 craft, capable of carrying 30 vehicles and 254 passengers, were delivered in 1969, Hoverlloyd moved operations to the purpose-built Ramsgate Hoverport in Pegwell Bay , near Ramsgate, which closed in 1987. Since 2013, there have been no ferry services from Ramsgate. Between 2012–13 and 2014–15,
84-678: A medal struck on the authority of Queen Isabella II of Spain . On New Year's Day 1861 an event at sea of considerable loss of life occurred with the wreck of the Guttenburg . Then, as now, the most hazardous area around the Kent coastline for any navigator was the Goodwin Sands . In 1865, the lifeboat was taken over by the Board of Trade and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution , and
112-475: A merger with rival Seaspeed to form the combined Hoverspeed , and operated exclusively from Seaspeed's Dover hoverport. The site remained in use for administration and engineering until December 1987. The Hoverlloyd company was formed in 1965 to take advantage of the new form of transport of hovercraft, with the intention of starting a cross-channel service to compete against the ferry services. The company initially started operating smaller SR.N6 craft from
140-557: A pad within Ramsgate Harbour whilst looking for a longer term base for larger craft. Having discounted other options along the Kent coast, they settled on Pegwell Bay , which was sheltered from weather conditions by the Goodwin Sands . The building of the hoverport was controversial, with objections from a range of interest parties including local residents represented by the "Pegwell Bay Committee", bird watchers, those wishing to conserve
168-522: A service of passenger and car ferries to Dunkirk . From 1993 to 1997, Oostende Lines moved their operation from the Port of Dover to Ramsgate, before the state-owned company was closed, selling most of its assets to TransEuropa Ferries . Between November 1998 and April 2013 a predominantly freight service was provided to Ostend by TransEuropa Ferries . Passenger services were only available on certain crossings, and then only with vehicles. Hoverlloyd ran
196-465: Is a harbour situated in Ramsgate , south-east England , serving cross-Channel freight traffic and smaller working and pleasure craft. It is owned and operated by Thanet District Council . The construction of Ramsgate Harbour began in 1749, and was completed in about 1850. The two most influential architects of the harbour were father and son John Shaw and John Shaw Jr , who designed the clock house,
224-528: The Indian Coast Guard operates three hovercraft. The world's first purpose-built hoverport was the Ramsgate Hoverport which was a cross-channel port in Kent , England. This article related to water transport is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Port of Ramsgate The Port of Ramsgate (also known as Port Ramsgate , Ramsgate Harbour , and Royal Harbour, Ramsgate )
252-561: The London Array are maintained from an operations and maintenance base at the port. On 14 September 1994 there was a failure of a ship-to-shore structure for the transfer of foot passengers onto ferries. While RMT's Prins Filip was docked and loading vehicles and passengers, and getting readied for the voyage to Ostend in Belgium, the walkway collapsed, causing the deaths of six people and seriously injuring seven more. The investigation into
280-529: The Port of Dover . The hoverport remained as an operational and maintenance base, with administration taking place on site until October 1985, and engineering (particularly hovercraft overhauls) continuing until December 1987. The buildings on the site were demolished in August 1995. A go-kart circuit trading as Ramsgate Kart Circuit was laid out on the North-east end of the site in 1993, including using part of
308-529: The Prince of Wales (GH-2054) which started operations from Ramsgate on 18 June 1977. The oil crisis of the 1970s caused significant cost pressure on hovercraft operators due to the amount of kerosene used by the craft, and in 1979 Hoverlloyd was put up for sale as a condition of the bailout of then parent company Broström Shipping Group by the Swedish Government. There was no successful interest and in 1981,
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#1733085040874336-547: The accident revealed that the same basic miscalculation had been made by both the designer (Swedish firm FKAB , a subsidiary of the Mattson Group) and certifying organisation Lloyd's Register . The parties involved, including the client, Port Ramsgate, were prosecuted and fined a total of £1.7m, which at the time was the largest fine in the United Kingdom for a breach of health and safety laws. The Swedish firms refused to pay
364-462: The announcement of British Rail building a hoverport for their Seaspeed service at the Port of Dover . It was agreed that both Dover and Ramsgate should have hoverports, as they were offering different types of service. The construction was completed by Cementation , who started construction in July 1968. The build required the tipping of 300,000 long tons (670,000,000 lb) of colliery spoil to form
392-420: The base. The purpose-built hoverport opened on 2 May 1969 with the delivery of the company's first two large SR.N4 craft, Swift and Sure , which started operations on the route to Calais . The port cost £1.5 million, and the formal opening was performed by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh . The site continued to operate through the 1970s, eventually operating four craft, including the first SR.N4 Mark II,
420-463: The coastline, and yacht operators. The Kent Trust for Nature Conservation raised money to purchase 100 acres of land in order to block the construction. Multiple rounds of public inquiry were held, before the inspector Charles Hilton recommended granting of permission, with the ministerial approval being given on 10 January 1968. A second inquiry was then held in September 1967, again by Hilton, following
448-404: The event of a no deal Brexit , but this was ruled out as impractical. The Royal Harbour has a large marina , primarily based in the inner pool of the original harbour, with water levels controlled by lock gates containing 700 berths, although a number of other berths are also available in the outer harbour, and so can be accessed around the clock, rather than just either side of high tide when
476-698: The gates open. The marina has a number of facilities for sailors, including refuelling, utility hook-ups and amenity blocks. The lighthouse situated on the West harbour arm was built in 1842 and is 11m high; it is a Grade II listed building. The lighthouse is active and emits a continuous red light; (originally the light varied from red to green depending on the height of the tide at the harbour entrance). It replaced an earlier lighthouse by Benjamin Dean Wyatt , which had been poorly positioned and suffered damage from passing ships. Now powered by electricity, originally it
504-614: The harbour was designated a Heritage Harbour . Because of its proximity to mainland Europe, Ramsgate was a chief embarkation point both during the Napoleonic Wars and for the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940. Helped by its position 35 miles (56 km) from the French coast, the port provided cross-Channel crossings for many years, with Ramsgate Port having its own access tunnel avoiding town centre congestion. Previously Sally Ferries provided
532-515: The obelisk, the lighthouse and the Jacob's Ladder steps. The harbour has the unique distinction of being the only harbour in the United Kingdom awarded the right to call itself a Royal Harbour . This was bestowed by King George IV after he was taken by the hospitality shown by the people of Ramsgate when he used the harbour to depart and return with the Royal Yacht Squadron in 1821. In 2024
560-404: The old maintenance building, and further parts of the site were used a satellite lorry parking and storage site for ferry operations from Port Ramsgate by Sally and Oostende Lines . Both uses finished in 1995. In the mid-1990s the site was proposed to be the site of a major leisure complex with 250 holiday apartments, an indoor ski slope , ice rink , swimming pool, and other amenities, which
588-609: The operator merged with the rival, and also loss making, British Rail -owned Seaspeed to form Hoverspeed . Thanet Member of Parliament William Rees-Davies went on the record to the Thanet Chambers of Commerce that any merger were not threaten operations at Ramsgate. For the 1982 season, operations continued from Ramsgate Hoverport under the Hoverspeed branding, but following a final trip in late October 1982 all passenger and vehicle services were moved to Seaspeed's operating base at
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#1733085040874616-433: The port recorded a loss of £2.7 million, and it was suggested it should be closed. In 2016, Gefco commenced using the port to import and store cars prior to onward distribution. The port however continued to make losses, with a further loss of £2.5 million in the year 2018–19, and only limited activity in the commercial port. In 2019, Seaborne Freight was awarded a £13.8m freight contract to Ostend which could be used in
644-511: The prize-winner in the 1851 national competition for the best design for such a craft. In 1859 Jerimiah Walker (having previously distinguished himself by his successful rescue of the master and crew of the Northern Belle ), as a seaman on the lugger Petrel , assisted in the rescue of the crew of the Spanish vessel Julia , which had become stranded off Ramsgate. For this assistance he was awarded
672-446: The same year that he was recognised by parliament for the lifeboat being "deemed a fit subject for national munificence". After a lapse in service between 1824 and 1851 a station was re-established by the trustees, with the lifeboat named in honour of the lifeboat sponsor, the Duke of Northumberland . The new and prized boat had been built in accordance with the plans of a model that had been
700-526: The site. Hoverport A hoverport is a terminal for hovercraft , having passenger facilities where needed and infrastructure to allow the hovercraft to come on land. Today, only a small number of civilian hoverports remain, due to the relatively high fuel consumption of hovercraft compared to traditional ferries. Military/Paramilitary hoverports also exist however, for example in Haldia in India , from which
728-444: Was lit by an oil lamp, with a fourth-order Fresnel lens . Carved in the stonework of the lighthouse are the words 'PERFUGIAM MISERIS', which are translated as 'refuge for those in need'. A lifeboat station was first established at Ramsgate Harbour in 1802 by the trustees of the harbour, predating the formation of any national lifeboat organisation by more than 20 years. The original was built by lifeboat pioneer Henry Greathead , in
756-463: Was proposed to be part-funded with European Union development grants, and developed by Jimmy Godden who owned Dreamland Margate , and permission was gained from John Gummer , then the Environment Secretary , but negotiations broke down with Thanet District Council in 1996. The site is disused although the hovercraft pad, car-marshalling area, and approach road are still identifiable at
784-483: Was taken over completely by the RNLI, which runs the service to this day. The current lifeboat station, on the harbour wall between the inner and outer pools of the main harbour, opened in 1998 and services both an onshore lifeboat, the 'Bob Turnbull' and offshore lifeboat, the 'RNLB Esme Anderson' . The Thanet Offshore Wind Project required the construction of a 280m quay for the assembly of wind turbines. Turbines for
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