Editing Isle of Thanet (section)

==Geography==
The Isle of Thanet formed when sea levels rose after the [[last glacial period]], around [[5th millennium BC|5000 BC]]. The [[North Sea]] encroached on the land which is now the estuary of the [[River Thames]], and southwards to reach the higher land of the [[North Downs]], leaving behind an island composed of chalk in its wake. Eventually the sea broke through river valleys in the North Downs to the south (Middle Chalk) and finally today's [[English Channel]] was opened up.{{sfn|Jessup|1966}} The proto-[[River Stour, Kent|River Stour]] then formed part of the intervening water, with a new tributary, the [[River Wantsum]], completing it; it became known as the Wantsum Channel.

The Wantsum Channel gradually narrowed as pebble beaches built up at the southern end of the strait, blocking silt coming down the Stour. There was also previously a stream called the Nethergong on the western side that had its outlet at Northmouth (Yenlade) about {{cvt|1.8|km}} to the east of [[Reculver]].{{sfn|Brayley|1817|p=3}} [[Bede]], in the 8th century, said that the Channel was then three [[furlong]]s wide ({{convert|660|yd}}). A map of 1414 showed a ferry crossing at [[Sarre, Kent|Sarre]].<ref name=MappaThanetiInsule />{{sfn|Brayley|1817|p=135}} The first wooden bridge over the channel was built there in reign of [[Henry VII of England|Henry the Seventh]].{{sfn|Brayley|1817|loc=p. 135}}{{efn|A private act of the English Parliament enabling the inhabitants of Sarre to build a bridge was passed in the time of Henry VII [22 Aug 1485 - 21 Aug 1486] Endorsed: 'Billa de Thaneto' but the time the bridge was actually built is not recorded so date as in article was removed as its rare for something to be built before funded.{{sfn|Brayley|1817|loc=p. 135}}{{sfn|Hasted|1799|p=306}}}} Until the mid 18th&nbsp;century there was a ferry between [[Sandwich, Kent|Sandwich]] and the island; in 1755 a wooden drawbridge was built, and the ferry was closed.<ref>{{cite web|title=The town and port of Sandwich |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63619&strquery=sandwich |publisher=British History Online|access-date=25 Sep 2012}}
</ref>

Today the Isle is an island no longer and the erstwhile channel is now flat marshland criss-crossed by drainage ditches. Meanwhile, the exposed chalk cliffs are gradually being worn down by the sea, particularly at the [[North Foreland]]. Much else of the coast is a built-up area. The Wantsum area is still liable to flooding: during the [[North Sea flood of 1953]] Thanet was cut off for a few days, but the sea defences have been strengthened since then.

The soil and equable climate of the Isle have always encouraged arable farming.
{{Blockquote|"... a garden indeed, a county of corn but the labourers' houses all along, beggarly in the extreme. The people dirty, poor-looking, but particularly dirty." |[[William Cobbett]] in 1823 when he rode to the Island<ref>[http://www.literatureandplace.org.uk/database/en/entries/Cobbett%20William%20/Margate/151 Literature and Place: William Cobbett]</ref> }}
Today there are still farms inland, but the coast is nearly all covered in settlements, most of which have come into being in the 19th and 20th centuries.

As the popularity of the [[seaside resort]] grew, so did that of the Isle of Thanet. At first the holidaymakers came by boat from London; after the coming of the railways in the mid-1840s, that became the preferred mode of transport. The population grew, as the following population statistics show:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; margin-left:60px;"
! Place
! Population in 1801
! Population in 1861
|-
| [[Ramsgate]] & St Lawrence || 4,200 || 15,100
|-
| [[Margate]] || 4,800 || 10,000
|-
| [[Broadstairs]] & [[St Peter's, Kent|St Peter's]] || 1,600 || &nbsp; 2,900
|}