St Mary's Bay, Kent
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| St Mary's Bay | |
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  St Mary's Bay shown within Kent |
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| Population | 6,700 (inc Dymchurch) |
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| OS grid reference | |
| Parish | St Mary in the Marsh |
| District | Shepway |
| Shire county | Kent |
| Region | South East |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | TONBRIDGE |
| Postcode district | TN29 |
| Dialling code | 01797/01303 |
| Police | Kent |
| Fire | Kent |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| European Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | Folkestone and Hythe |
| List of places: UK • England • Kent | |
St Mary's Bay is a 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.
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[edit] History
During the 1950s and 1960s St Mary's Bay was a popular destination for holidaymakers, 'The Bay' having a number of holiday camps, 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 Taylors Lane. The School Journey Centre 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 [1], sited on the seafront roughly opposite the turning to Jefferstone Lane on the A259, these have also since closed and been demolished, part of the motel having been 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 [2] as it is currently known, today provides sheltered housing accommodation specialising in catering for people with the special needs associated with autism and Asperger's syndrome, etc.
[edit] Entertainment
In addition to the Bahia Bar 'The Bay' had a number of pubs 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.
[edit] 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 Office 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 Harry's Newsagents (previously a draper's shop) down Jefferstone Lane. The former has now closed and become a private house whilst Harry's Newsagents has now become the St Mary's Bay Superstore, selling a range of provisions and publications.
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
[edit] School
'The Bay' has a small nursery school 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 Southlands in New Romney, however some children travel to schools further afield.
[edit] Religion
St Mary's Bay has a small modern Anglican church, the All Saints Parish Church, located down Jefferstone Lane.
[edit] Other
'The Bay' is the home to an Army Cadet Force 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. Rather romantically, the playground equipment remains unchanged (minus the concrete pipes) from when the author of this particular last two parahgraphs used to play there as a child, and his own and countless other children similarly enjoy it to this day. I remember during the school holidays every summer it used to play host to a number of community events and the like. In August 1980, it hosted a five a side football competition. Naively, a group of young boys, the oldest no more than 11, entered a team called Bay Devils into this competition, not knowing it was for adults only!
The teams exploits overshadowed those of their adult counterparts despite being obviously roundly thrashed in their games. Nevertheless they put up a good fight, and in two brothers aged 8 and 11 they recorded the youngest goalscorers in the tournament. This merited a mention in the local paper, the name of which is sadly forgotten. Should anyone know the name of this paper and where the article can be found, those now middle aged youngsters would be grateful.
[edit] Famous residents
St Mary's Bay was formerly the home to actor Larry Martyn, 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.
[edit] Gallery
 The entrance to Taylors Lane on the A259 pictured in May 2007 |
 The entrance to Jefferstone Lane |
 The beach looking towards Dymchurch |
[edit] External links
- The stmarysbay.org.uk website
- The Springs Community website
- St Mary's Bay on Multimap
- Kite Flying Site Report
- E. Nesbit at St Mary's Bay
- Ward population estimates (PDF)
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