Broadstairs
History &
Information
Dickens name appears everywhere, as do those of his
novels, and the characters and places in them. Bleak House, where he
summered for many years during the 1850s and
1860s, stands on a rise above the harbour; he called it his "airy nest", and here he wrote his most famous
work, David Copperfield, and did much other writing
and planning.
In his day it was called Fort
House, having originally been the
residence of the captains of one of the two small forts guarding the
harbour. It was dubbed Bleak House following
the publication of the novel of that
name, but was not officially so
called until the beginning of this century.
The house is now a private residence and is in two distinct
parts: the original house in which Dickens lived and which is
kept as it was in his day, as a museum to his memory, and a new
wing added in 1901, where the owners live. In the house, a crenellated structure of austere appearance, there are a number
of Dickens's own pieces of furniture, including a chair in his study (a room
with a good view over the sea and from which the French coast is visible on a
clear day), some original editions of his works, letters, drawings and
photographs.
Some other items are contemporary, and include a bed in which he
slept at the Bull Inn in Rochester. The garden is also maintained much as it was
in Dickens's time. Bleak House is open daily at specified times from March to November. Dickens also stayed in a number of other places in Broadstairs before he
occupied Bleak House. Among them was the Albion Hotel in Albion Street. Across the bay from the harbour is Dickens House.
A private residence, it is
identified with Betsy Trotwood's house in David Copperfield. It also has
a commanding view, and is occasionally open to the public. The Dickens Festival, the principal event of the Broadstairs year, lasts a week
and is generally held during June, when many people wear the dress of the
Dickensian period. The festival programme includes a presentation of one of his
works at Bleak House.
Only a couple of hundred yards away from Bleak House, at the harbour end of
Albion Street, is the Parish Room of Holy Trinity Church, formerly Old St
Mary's, built in 1601. It stands on the site of a shrine to Our Lady of Bradstow,
to which passing ships dipped their topsails. Of other old buildings there is St
Peter's Church in St Peter's, which dates, in part, from the llth cent.
There are also an excellent park and sports ground in this area. |
