Shrine of Our Lady, Bradstowe

St Mary's chapel was built on the site of the shrine, although 1601 refers to the date it was restored and not the date of the original structure.

The Shrine of Our Ladye Star of the Sea was an old chapel on the cliffs at Broadstairs (which was formerly known as Bradstowe). Dating back at least to the 1350s, the two towers of the chapel were a major landmark for sailors in the area. Given the veneration in which the shrine was held, the custom developed of ships dipping their top-sails to salute the shrine as they sailed past it.^[1]

The Chapel of St. Mary's structural remains are, as incorporated in the modern facade, situated on the site of what has been said also to be the oldest surviving building still standing in contemporary Broadstairs, and within its modern content is all that remains of the Medieval Shrine of "Our Lady of Bradstowe". It stands near the harbour on today's Albion Street, at the junction with Alexandra Road.

^ Wedlake Brayley, Edward; Britton, John (1808), The Beauties of England and Wales, Or, Delineations, Topographical, Historical, and Descriptive, of Each County: Kent, vol. 8, Vernor and Hood, p. 972 quoting John Lewis's History of the Isle of Thanet (1736)

[1] Wedlake Brayley, Edward; Britton, John (1808), The Beauties of England and Wales, Or, Delineations, Topographical, Historical, and Descriptive, of Each County: Kent, vol. 8, Vernor and Hood, p. 972 quoting John Lewis's History of the Isle of Thanet (1736)

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