Westgate-on-Sea

Westgate-on-Sea
West Bay
Westgate-on-Sea Location within Kent
Population	6,996 (2011)
OS grid reference	TR321701
Civil parish	Westgate-on-Sea
District	Thanet
Shire county	Kent
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	WESTGATE-ON-SEA
Postcode district	CT8
Dialling code	01843
Police	Kent
Fire	Kent
Ambulance	South East Coast
UK Parliament	North Thanet
List of places UK England Kent 51°22′53″N 01°20′17″E / 51.38139°N 1.33806°E / 51.38139; 1.33806

Westgate-on-Sea is a seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of Kent, England. It is within the Thanet local government district and borders the larger seaside resort of Margate. Its two sandy beaches have remained a popular tourist attraction since the town's development in the 1860s from a small farming community. The town had a population of 6,996 at the 2011 Census.^[1]

The town is notable for once being the location of a Royal Naval Air Service seaplane base at St Mildred's Bay, which defended the Thames Estuary coastal towns during World War I. The town is the subject of Sir John Betjeman's poem, "Westgate-on-Sea". Residents have included the 19th-century surgeon Sir Erasmus Wilson and former archbishop of Canterbury William Temple. The artist Sir William Quiller Orchardson painted several of his best-known pictures whilst living in Westgate-on-Sea. The British artist Louis Wain and his family. The British composer Arnold Cooke attended the town's Streete Preparatory School in the early 20th century, and Eton headmaster Anthony Chenevix-Trench spent the earliest few years of his education in the town.^[2]