St Mary's Bay, Kent
Encyclopedia
St Mary's Bay is a coastal village in Kent
, England
. On the coast, situated on Romney Marsh
, St Mary's Bay has a long sandy beach which stretches north to Dymchurch
and south to Littlestone-on-Sea
. It has a station
on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway
. Local website http://www.stmarysbay.net
s, among them Maddieson's Golden Sands
at Dunstall Lane, the School Journey Centre at Jefferstone Lane, and the Rugby
Club camp on the opposite (sea) side of the A259
main road between Jefferstone Lane and Taylor's Lane. The School Journey Center closed at the end of the 1970s and the site is now occupied by a housing estate. Also at St Mary's Bay was the Sands Holiday Motel and accompanying Bahia Bar http://www.stmarysbay.org.uk/stmarysbay/motel.html, sited on the seafront roughly opposite the turning to Jefferstone Lane on the A259. These have also since closed and been demolished since part of the motel was badly damaged in the Great Storm of 1987
.
St Mary's Bay was also the site of a home for mentally handicapped children. Known as Pirates Spring and located in Coast Drive close to the beach, the home was run by the National Society for Mentally Handicapped Children (now Mencap
) and had the actor Brian Rix
among its patrons. After closing in the 1980s followed by a brief period as a hotel & country club in the 1990s, The Springs Community now provides sheltered housing
accommodation for people with the special needs associated with autism
and Asperger's syndrome
, etc.
s and clubs, including The Bailiffs Sergeant pub, the previously mentioned Pirates Spring Country Club. Of these, only The Bailiffs Sergeant located down Jefferstone Lane remains open to the public today, The Nightrider Club, (formerly next to the Jenner's coal
yard) also in Jefferstone Lane having been demolished in the 1990s and the site, along with the coal yard itself, now occupied by houses.
St Mary's Bay has had a number of establishments offering refreshments and food although these have now dwindled to the present two, a result of the diminishing number of holidaymakers that now visit the area. In the 1970's 'The Bay' hosted The Palm Grove Cafe
down Jefferstone Lane, and The Cobsden Cafe in nearby Cobsden Road, unusual for being located on the second storey
of the building and accessed via wooden stairs and a bridge. Both these have now closed, The Palm Grove Cafe having been turned into a chemists/off licence in the mean time (also now-closed), and The Cobsden Cafe now being used as private accommodation. There was also a tea
shop/cafe on the A259 located in what is now the site of the Gazedown cul-de-sac
. Currently the only takeaway food shop is Yongs Chinese Takeaway positioned, conveniently, almost next to The Bailiffs Sergeant pub.
is now located in a building in Teelin Close down Jefferstone Lane, having previously been sited in a building that was part of the School Journey Centre positioned at the top of Jefferstone Lane at the junction with the A259.
There were two Newsagents, one at the top of Taylors Lane alongside the former St Mary's Bay Garage and the other St Mary's Bay Superstore (previously a draper
's shop) down Jefferstone Lane. The former has now closed and become a private house whilst St Mary's Bay Superstore has now become the Beachside Stores, which is a general newsagents and the biggest shop in the area, after Sainsburys (New Romney
).
Also down Jefferstone Lane is Foords electrical retailers, previously Colmers, who were also an electrical store. During the 1970s St Mary's Bay also had a small supermarket
situated at the top of Jefferstone Lane opposite the previous Post Office site. Known as the 'Mini-Market' it closed at the end of the 70's and remained empty and derelict until the 1990s, when it was pulled down and a new housing development, Jesson Close, built on the site. Previously, 'The Bay' was also host to both a butcher
's and a baker
's, both long-gone now, the site down Jefferstone Lane having had houses built on it in the late 1980s and named Old Bakery Close.
In between what was once 'Harry's Newsagents' and the post office was a restaurant, called Betty's Restaurant. This closed and was reopened as a pharmacy, but again this facility closed soon afterwards
in Jefferstone Lane situated next door to the church. Children older than nursery-age go to schools outside St Mary's Bay, generally Dymchurch
Junior School, and then later perhaps The Marsh Academy in New Romney
, however some children travel to schools further afield.
, where there is a much older church.
Detachment
, located down Jefferstone Lane just over the RH&DR railway level crossing
and adjacent to a caravan park.
St Mary's Bay has a modern village hall
located opposite the site of the The Bailiffs Sergeant pub on land that was originally part of the School Journey Centre holiday camp. Previous to the building of the new hall the village hall was located on the same site in one of the holiday camp's old buildings, the building remaining in this use for some years after the rest of the holiday camp itself had been demolished.
Although no longer offering the opportunity for purchasing fuels, the St Mary's Bay Garage site still maintains a facility for light automotive
repair, in the shape of Colin Wood Engineering who occupy the original service area of the garage, located on the left (New Romney) side of the old St Mary's Bay Garage building.
At the end of Jefferstone Lane is a large recreation ground, well kept and with a pavilion for sporting events.
, who lived down Jefferstone Lane in Old Bakery Close until his death in 1994.
The children's author E. Nesbit
, author of among others, The Railway Children
, lived with her second husband Captain Tucker in St Mary's Bay between the two World Wars and is buried in the churchyard at nearby St Mary in the Marsh
.
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. On the coast, situated on Romney Marsh
Romney Marsh
Romney Marsh is a sparsely populated wetland area in the counties of Kent and East Sussex in the south-east of England. It covers about 100 mi ² .-Quotations:*“As Egypt was the gift of the Nile, this level tract .....
, St Mary's Bay has a long sandy beach which stretches north to Dymchurch
Dymchurch
Dymchurch is a village and civil parish in the Shepway District of Kent, England. The village is located on the coast five miles south-west of Hythe, and on the Romney Marsh. It is typical of this part of the coast, having been a village which became larger during the 1930s...
and south to Littlestone-on-Sea
Littlestone-on-Sea
Littlestone-on-Sea is a small coastal village close to New Romney. Started in the 1880's by Sir Robert Perks, as a resort for the gentry, at the point of the local lifeboat station. At low tide a WWII 'Mulberry Harbour' is visible and along the coast there is a P.L.U.T.O...
. It has a station
St Mary's Bay railway station
St. Mary's Bay railway station is a small station in St Mary's Bay, Kent, England, between the larger stations of New Romney and Dymchurch, on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway....
on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway
Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway
The Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway is a gauge light railway in Kent, England. The line runs from the Cinque Port of Hythe via Dymchurch, St...
. Local website http://www.stmarysbay.net
History
During the 1950s and 1960s, St Mary's Bay was a popular destination for vacationers. 'The Bay' had a number of holiday campHoliday camp
Holiday camp, in Britain, generally refers to a resort with a boundary that includes accommodation, entertainment and other facilities.As distinct from camping, accommodation typically consisted of chalets – small buildings arranged either individually or in blocks. Some had three or four storeys,...
s, among them Maddieson's Golden Sands
Golden Sands Halt railway station
Golden Sands Halt railway station was a private station on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway in St Mary's Bay, Kent, England.Trains ran past this location for some 21 years before the private Golden Sands Halt opened in the summer of 1948...
at Dunstall Lane, the School Journey Centre at Jefferstone Lane, and the Rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
Club camp on the opposite (sea) side of the A259
A259 road
The A259 is a busy road on the south coast of England passing through Hampshire, West Sussex, East Sussex and part of Kent. Part of the road was named "the most dangerous road in South East England" in 2008.-Description:...
main road between Jefferstone Lane and Taylor's Lane. The School Journey Center closed at the end of the 1970s and the site is now occupied by a housing estate. Also at St Mary's Bay was the Sands Holiday Motel and accompanying Bahia Bar http://www.stmarysbay.org.uk/stmarysbay/motel.html, sited on the seafront roughly opposite the turning to Jefferstone Lane on the A259. These have also since closed and been demolished since part of the motel was badly damaged in the Great Storm of 1987
Great Storm of 1987
The Great Storm of 1987 occurred on the night of 15/16 October 1987, when an unusually strong weather system caused winds to hit much of southern England and northern France...
.
St Mary's Bay was also the site of a home for mentally handicapped children. Known as Pirates Spring and located in Coast Drive close to the beach, the home was run by the National Society for Mentally Handicapped Children (now Mencap
Mencap
The Royal Mencap Society is a charity based in the UK that works with people with a learning disability.-Profile:Mencap is the UK's leading learning disability charity working with people with a learning disability and their families and carers...
) and had the actor Brian Rix
Brian Rix, Baron Rix
Brian Norman Roger Rix, Baron Rix, CBE is an English actor and charity worker. He is the younger brother of British actress Sheila Mercier .-Early years:...
among its patrons. After closing in the 1980s followed by a brief period as a hotel & country club in the 1990s, The Springs Community now provides sheltered housing
Sheltered housing
Sheltered housing is a British English term covering a wide range of rented housing for older and/or disabled or other vulnerable people. Most commonly it refers to grouped housing such as a block or "scheme" of flats or bungalows with a scheme manager or "officer"; traditionally the manager has...
accommodation for people with the special needs associated with autism
Autism
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...
and Asperger's syndrome
Asperger syndrome
Asperger's syndrome that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development...
, etc.
Entertainment
In addition to the Bahia Bar 'The Bay' had a number of pubPublic house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
s and clubs, including The Bailiffs Sergeant pub, the previously mentioned Pirates Spring Country Club. Of these, only The Bailiffs Sergeant located down Jefferstone Lane remains open to the public today, The Nightrider Club, (formerly next to the Jenner's coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
yard) also in Jefferstone Lane having been demolished in the 1990s and the site, along with the coal yard itself, now occupied by houses.
St Mary's Bay has had a number of establishments offering refreshments and food although these have now dwindled to the present two, a result of the diminishing number of holidaymakers that now visit the area. In the 1970's 'The Bay' hosted The Palm Grove Cafe
Café
A café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...
down Jefferstone Lane, and The Cobsden Cafe in nearby Cobsden Road, unusual for being located on the second storey
Storey
A storey or story is any level part of a building that could be used by people...
of the building and accessed via wooden stairs and a bridge. Both these have now closed, The Palm Grove Cafe having been turned into a chemists/off licence in the mean time (also now-closed), and The Cobsden Cafe now being used as private accommodation. There was also a tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
shop/cafe on the A259 located in what is now the site of the Gazedown cul-de-sac
Cul-de-sac
A cul-de-sac is a word of French origin referring to a dead end, close, no through road or court meaning dead-end street with only one inlet/outlet...
. Currently the only takeaway food shop is Yongs Chinese Takeaway positioned, conveniently, almost next to The Bailiffs Sergeant pub.
Retailers
At one time 'The Bay' was home to a number of shops, although, as with other things, these have now reduced in number. The Post OfficePost office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
is now located in a building in Teelin Close down Jefferstone Lane, having previously been sited in a building that was part of the School Journey Centre positioned at the top of Jefferstone Lane at the junction with the A259.
There were two Newsagents, one at the top of Taylors Lane alongside the former St Mary's Bay Garage and the other St Mary's Bay Superstore (previously a draper
Draper
Draper is the now largely obsolete term for a wholesaler, or especially retailer, of cloth, mainly for clothing, or one who works in a draper's shop. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. The drapers were an important trade guild...
's shop) down Jefferstone Lane. The former has now closed and become a private house whilst St Mary's Bay Superstore has now become the Beachside Stores, which is a general newsagents and the biggest shop in the area, after Sainsburys (New Romney
New Romney
New Romney is a small town in Kent, England, on the edge of Romney Marsh, an area of flat, rich agricultural land reclaimed from the sea after the harbour began to be silted up. New Romney was once a sea port, with the harbour adjacent to the church, but is now more than a mile from the sea...
).
Also down Jefferstone Lane is Foords electrical retailers, previously Colmers, who were also an electrical store. During the 1970s St Mary's Bay also had a small supermarket
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
situated at the top of Jefferstone Lane opposite the previous Post Office site. Known as the 'Mini-Market' it closed at the end of the 70's and remained empty and derelict until the 1990s, when it was pulled down and a new housing development, Jesson Close, built on the site. Previously, 'The Bay' was also host to both a butcher
Butcher
A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat or any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat, poultry, fish and shellfish for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments...
's and a baker
Baker
A baker is someone who bakes and sells bread, Cakes and similar foods may also be produced, as the traditional boundaries between what is produced by a baker as opposed to a pastry chef have blurred in recent decades...
's, both long-gone now, the site down Jefferstone Lane having had houses built on it in the late 1980s and named Old Bakery Close.
In between what was once 'Harry's Newsagents' and the post office was a restaurant, called Betty's Restaurant. This closed and was reopened as a pharmacy, but again this facility closed soon afterwards
Education
'The Bay' has a small nursery schoolNursery school
A nursery school is a school for children between the ages of one and five years, staffed by suitably qualified and other professionals who encourage and supervise educational play rather than simply providing childcare...
in Jefferstone Lane situated next door to the church. Children older than nursery-age go to schools outside St Mary's Bay, generally Dymchurch
Dymchurch
Dymchurch is a village and civil parish in the Shepway District of Kent, England. The village is located on the coast five miles south-west of Hythe, and on the Romney Marsh. It is typical of this part of the coast, having been a village which became larger during the 1930s...
Junior School, and then later perhaps The Marsh Academy in New Romney
New Romney
New Romney is a small town in Kent, England, on the edge of Romney Marsh, an area of flat, rich agricultural land reclaimed from the sea after the harbour began to be silted up. New Romney was once a sea port, with the harbour adjacent to the church, but is now more than a mile from the sea...
, however some children travel to schools further afield.
Religion
St Mary's Bay has a small modern Anglican church of All Saints, located on Jefferstone Lane. It is part of the parish of St Mary in the MarshSt Mary in the Marsh
St Mary in the Marsh is a village near New Romney in Kent, England, situated in the heart of Romney Marsh in one of its least populated areas, but with New Romney just 3 miles away, there are plenty of amenities close by....
, where there is a much older church.
Other
'The Bay' is the home to an Army Cadet ForceArmy Cadet Force
The Army Cadet Force is a British youth organisation that offers progressive training in a multitude of the subjects from military training to adventurous training and first aid, at the same time as promoting achievement, discipline, and good citizenship, to boys and girls aged 12 to 18 and 9...
Detachment
Detachment (military)
A detachment is a military unit. It can either be detached from a larger unit for a specific function or be a permanent unit smaller than a battalion. The term is often used to refer to a unit that is assigned to a different base from the parent unit...
, located down Jefferstone Lane just over the RH&DR railway level crossing
Level crossing
A level crossing occurs where a railway line is intersected by a road or path onone level, without recourse to a bridge or tunnel. It is a type of at-grade intersection. The term also applies when a light rail line with separate right-of-way or reserved track crosses a road in the same fashion...
and adjacent to a caravan park.
St Mary's Bay has a modern village hall
Village hall
In the United States, a village hall is the seat of government for villages. It functions much as a city hall does within cities.In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building within a village which contains at least one large room, usually owned by and run for the benefit of the local...
located opposite the site of the The Bailiffs Sergeant pub on land that was originally part of the School Journey Centre holiday camp. Previous to the building of the new hall the village hall was located on the same site in one of the holiday camp's old buildings, the building remaining in this use for some years after the rest of the holiday camp itself had been demolished.
Although no longer offering the opportunity for purchasing fuels, the St Mary's Bay Garage site still maintains a facility for light automotive
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
repair, in the shape of Colin Wood Engineering who occupy the original service area of the garage, located on the left (New Romney) side of the old St Mary's Bay Garage building.
At the end of Jefferstone Lane is a large recreation ground, well kept and with a pavilion for sporting events.
Famous residents
St Mary's Bay was formerly the home to actor Larry MartynLarry Martyn
Lawrence "Larry" Martyn was an English actor known for his comedy performances.Martyn was born in London and was a former member of the Parachute Regiment. He was famous as Mr. Mash in the BBC comedy series Are You Being Served?, appearing in the first three series before being replaced by Arthur...
, who lived down Jefferstone Lane in Old Bakery Close until his death in 1994.
The children's author E. Nesbit
E. Nesbit
Edith Nesbit was an English author and poet whose children's works were published under the name of E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television...
, author of among others, The Railway Children
The Railway Children
The Railway Children is a children's book by Edith Nesbit, originally serialised in The London Magazine during 1905 and first published in book form in 1906...
, lived with her second husband Captain Tucker in St Mary's Bay between the two World Wars and is buried in the churchyard at nearby St Mary in the Marsh
St Mary in the Marsh
St Mary in the Marsh is a village near New Romney in Kent, England, situated in the heart of Romney Marsh in one of its least populated areas, but with New Romney just 3 miles away, there are plenty of amenities close by....
.