Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-01-28
BRoADsTAIRs, ENGLAND.
Contributed by Mrs. F. MacKinnon.l

BrOddStd1rS, an ola IdSnlOnGQ SGd-
side place on the southeast coast
of England, we made frequent
little trips to neighboring places,
including Ramsgate, Margate, and
Canterbury, but | fancy to most
people Canterbury would be the
most interesting, as aside from its
being the oldest city in England, it
contains the fine old Cathedral
which is known the world over.
Broadstairs is a very old place,
many of its oldest houses and
St. Peters Church being built OF
flint stones, one house having over
its front entrance a stone bearing
the date 1886 in curious old
English figures, and on the cliff
which over-looks the sea stands
"Bleak House" made famous by
Charles Dickens. On the jetty
one can see just such old characters
Of fishermen as he delighted in
describing. One old sailor used
to take us out in his boat on fine
days to try our luck at fishing,
sometimes rowing two miles north
east and casting anchor off the
shore below the "North Foreland
Lighthouse" where sometimes one
could get quite a basket of fish,
Whiting, Solcs and Cod. When
tired we would watch the fishermen
set the lobster pots, or rather
baskets made Of willow, which to
me seemed something like our
American fly traps, easy enough
for the lobster to crawl into after
the fish put there for bait, but once
in they cannot get out. These
pots are attached to ropes which
are kept afloat by cork. Some OF
the Holsters taken weigh as much
as II to II pounds but those OF
even one pound are deemed fit for
the market and sent to London
every day.
The chalk cliffs are very pictur-
esque stretching all along the
South coast Of England forming
to the geologist an endless delight
as the chalk and flints are filled
with fossils Of the Cretaceous
group. The Southeast coast OF
England, the North coast of
France, Germany and Denmark
are connected by this same strata.
The alIuvial soil in and about
Broadstairs is SO thin that in
ploughing the chalk is turned up
by the plough-share, giving the
fields in Autumn a very white
appearance. Chalk prepared from
these cliffs is sold all over the
world as whiting, Paris white, etc,
and is used largely in adulterating
white paint While here we made
the acquaintance of a charming
lady, who had made a most scien-
tifc and interesting collection of
fossils from these chalk cliffs
which I wish I had space to
describe here. Our hotel faced
the sea and lying directly in front
of us about five miles out like a
dark line on the horizon are the
treacherous Goodwin Sands (quick
sands). These sands are uncovered
at low water. When the tide
recedes they are firm and safe, but
after the ebb the water permeates
through the mass rendering the
whole PUPPY and treacherous.
About the time of William |, of
England, these dangerous sands
consisting Of an estate were taken
from the Earl Of Goodwin and
bestowed on the abbey of St.
Augu5tin at Canterbury. The
abbot of which allowing the sea
wall to fall into a dilapidated
condition, the sea rushed in and
overwhelmed the whole, which
has not since and never will be
reclaimed. The popularity OF