*The route can be started from any central location, but the Blue Plaque at the Albion House Hotel is recommended. This spot commemorates Princess Victoria and overlooks the Royal Harbour at the corner of Albion Place and Madeira Walk.*
Created for 2023: The 23for23 Leading Ramsgate Women walking trail honours the lives of twenty-three significant women from Ramsgate's past.
Ramsgate's history includes many remarkable women whose stories have often been overlooked or lost in time. Now 23 of these inspiring women have been identified to mark the centenary of the appointment Ramsgate’s (and Kent’s) first female mayor, Dame Janet Stancomb-Wills.
Some names will be familiar: Elizabeth Fry, the prison reformer and nursing pioneer, who influenced her distant relative, Florence Nightingale; and Queen Victoria, who developed a lifelong affection for the town from her childhood visits. But what about Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein who went to school in the High Street? Or Jane Austen who visited her brother, Francis (later Admiral of the Fleet), when he was stationed in the town with the Royal Navy during the early 1800s?
Others to discover are Elisabeth Horsell who founded the Vegetarian Society in Ramsgate with her husband in 1847, and Laura Bayley who pioneered early film special effects at the beginning of the 20th century. There are also some ‘extraordinary-ordinary’ local women with uplifting stories of trailblazing and courage.
A leaflet with a map showing important locations and brief biographies of the women is available from Visitor Information Centres in Ramsgate, Broadstairs and Margate.
Address
23 for 23 Leading Ramsgate Women
Starting point Albion House Hotel
Albion Place
Ramsgate
Kent
CT11 8HQ
Contact
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